Crimson Inferno
by King Of Void
Summary: Blessed with the power to control Fire and Wind, mindset similar to that of a machine, coupled with the strongest of the Tailed Beasts by his side, a destructive storm of evolution follows behind his every step, look out world, Naruto is here. Cover Image Not Mine! (On Hiatus)
1. Chapter 1: Steps towards Greatness

**Chapter 1 Steps towards Greatness**

 **Before starting the fic, let me clear something first.**

 **Kyuubi cannot and will not be controlled by some fancy pink monkey eye. It will be whole not split by the fourth Hokage**

 **Naruto will be strong, very strong, but it's going to be gradual, not godlike power overnight.** **Although, HE'LL be GODLIKE after the three trip which in this fic will be Six years**

 **Naruto will be friendly only around people he trusts; he will be indifferent and cold to others. He will be quiet, reserved and distant.**

 **This is my first fic, so there will be some mistakes, so kindly overlook them and read forward because it gets good along the upcoming chapters.**

 **Chapter 1 Steps towards Greatness**

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The balance of power between good and evil has always been the same. If there was evil then there was good. One could not exist without the other. Both are the two sides of the same coin. Yet good is always hard to acknowledge then evil. Evil is evil. The name is more than enough to make you understand its true meaning. Let's take an assassin for example. He kills for a living, killing others to earn money to either sustain his life or if married, his family's. He may justify his reasons by saying that he too has a life to live.

Now this person may look like a great father from his children point of view, but what about the life he just took. The victim didn't just pop out thin air, he must have a family. He may be a brother to a sister, a son to a mother and father. From the aforementioned victim's family point of view, the murderer is the most evil and vile person on the face of the earth. The family could care less about the life of neither the murderer nor his reasons for killing their son.

An abnormally tall seven year old boy with shocking blond hair and clear sapphire eyes named Naruto, gazed at the full moon looming over the great village known as Konoha. A cool breeze blowing the leaves of the many trees, birds silently slept in their nests. All in all the full moon combined with the cool breeze made for a very breathtaking environment, yet he couldn't enjoy it. The young blond had his reasons for not enjoying the cool breeze, too lost in his own thoughts.

His still childish mind could not get around a certain problem.

Almost 99 percent of the population hated his guts for some reason. He was shunned and avoided like a plague but for the life of him, he could not figure out why. From his innocent child like point of view, he thought that either his parent had been traitors or had committed a heinous crime, but that couldn't be true because the old man Hokage said that his parents were the greatest ninjas of their time.

He trusted the old man too much to believe him to be a liar, yet he couldn't deny the tiny bit suspicion he had about the Hokage that he knew the answer to his two questions. Why was he hated? and who were his parents. The answers he received were disappointing to say the least. The old man had said that the people did not understand and were merely the victims of fear and hurt and to give them time.

Victims? Yeah right

He was the victim, he was the one who was hurt and yet the old man tried to justify their contempt and hatred towards him as misunderstanding. The old man said they didn't understand, understand what? He said that they were victims of fear and hurt, fear from what? Even his childish mind found that little tidbit to be incredibly stupid and laughable. He couldn't remember doing something to earn this much hatred!

Only three people really cared for him, the father and daughter duo of the Ichiraku Ramen stand and the old man with the funny hat, whom he had later found out was the leader of the village, known as the Hokage. He had met the father named Teuchi and daughter named Ayame when he had been running away from a mob hell bent on giving him his "birthday gift" in the form of a one way trip to the hospital.

The nice ramen stand owner had given him refugee to escape the mob and a bowl of ramen for free, for free! Can you believe it? Since then, he had started to take shelter there when he was chased by his monthly mob members or when he needed to eat something.

He didn't particularly liked ramen that much, but since the rest of the store owners refused to let him buy anything, he ate ramen whenever he was hungry. The owners were nice enough to give him a free bowl when he didn't have any cash on him, which was another factor for him to place them in his * help as much as I can* list.

He would help Ayame wash dishes before they closed their stand for the day. He would help the old man by sorting his paperwork and piling them in an orderly manner. This had the added benefit of giving him the knowledge about the layout of the village ranking system - the old man had already taught him basic reading and writing skill during his various visits to his office - and their importance.

Reading of the reports delivered by the numerous Ninjas of village further improved his reading.

Naruto stepped back from his balcony into his bedroom to get some sleep, to restart his dull routine of ending one day and start another. Tomorrow he would ask the Hokage to direct him towards a Taijutsu user and if memory served him right, there was one by the name of Maito Gai. A Taijutsu master, quiet a formidable one In fact. He would take the address of team ten training ground by blackmailing the Hokage if he had to.

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 **Hokage's Office**

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage was gazing out of the window of his office. It was a clear and peaceful morning and while he detested the blasted paperwork, he was excited to start the day.

'I get the feeling that today is going to be a great and wonderful day.' He thought with a serene smile on his face. Just then, the door to his office opened and a tall blond boy calmly entered without even bothering to knock first. The boy was dressed in black pants, a simple dark red shirt, standard black ninja sandal with bandages wrapped around his ankles and wrists.

'Great. I just had to open my big mouth' he lamented dryly. While he had to admit that the boy was the perfect example of how a ninja should be, he was awfully sarcastic with a dark sense of humor.

Naruto was what you would call unique, whether good or bad depended on the person's perspective. He was far from normal both physically and mentally. In case of physical terms, first off was his height. He was tall, taller than children his age, second were the whisker marks that adorned both his cheeks and third his abnormally keen senses, sight, sound, taste, smell and touch were similar to that of the Inuzuka clan,

But whereas the Inuzuka's only specialty was their sense of smell and their dog like behavior, Naruto's specialty was in all of the five senses. He could hear the tinniest of sound, smell the faintest of smells, see the smallest of objects and it was going to keep on advancing if the slight improvement and clarity was any indication.

As for his mental case, the boy was disturbingly intelligent, had unique perception that reminded the old Hokage of his deceased successor Minato Namikaze, the boy's father.

The young blond was always ready to learn more, the kind of questions he would ask and his curious nature always left the aging Hokage speechless. Children his age shouldn't ask the questions he asked, they shouldn't have the mind capacity or power to come up with such complex questions, yet he did.

Upon showing such great promise, the Hokage saw fit to teach him the basics of all the ninja arts but only in theory except Chakra control. That was to be expected since the boy was only seven years old. The Hokage refused to teach him anything advance since he wanted the boy to have a "normal" childhood and because he couldn't show favoritism. Besides, he was going to enter the Ninja academy in about two years anyway. The Chakra control would help him in the future since good control was needed to use a technique to its maximum potential.

"Naruto my boy, how are you doing on this fine morning?" Hiruzen asked with his best grandfatherly smile while inwardly, he was crying anime tears.' I don't want to listen to his witty remarks first thing in the morning!'

The boy didn't just come to his office for simple visit anymore and if he did came, it was either to take a scroll on seals or ask for advice on topics so complicated that it made his head ache just thinking about them. Though he would be lying if he said that he didn't enjoy the discussion. It's not every day a seven year old boy debates with an ancient like him.

"I am feeling just wonderful" Naruto said sarcastically and stood in front of the old Hokage with his hands crossed over his chest "In fact it's so wonderful that I came here to see you and brighten up your day with a simple request".

The way he smiled was reminiscent of a mischievous fox about to prank someone.

The Hokage sweatdropped 'In others words, you are going to use blackmail to get something from me'.

"Oh. Care to enlighten me?"

The air of mirth around Naruto vanished as soon as the words left his mouth. This was one of the many traits of the blond he liked, serious when the time asked for it and friendly only around people he trusted.

"I want you to ….."

He stopped midsentence when the door to the office opened to reveal the Hokage secretary with a bundle of documents meant for the Hokage to sign. The secretary deposited the mountain of paperwork on the desk and directed a hateful glare towards Naruto who returned her glare with a blank look on his face before leaving.

The Hokage noticed the hate-filled glare and made a mental note to have a talk with the woman. If she couldn't get over some petty hate, then she needed to be fired! Upon her exit from the door, he realized with a dry look that she had brought that damn paperwork with her.

'Damn you to hell paperwork! Damn you Minato for taking the secrets of the paperwork with you to the grave!' he glumly thought while crying anime tears and banging his head on his desk 'I'm too old for this shit'

Naruto and the hidden Anbu's in the office could only sweatdrop at the antics of the old man.

"Old man, if you are finished with paying your respects to the fourth, I'd like to finish my sentence?" Naruto interjected sarcastically.

"Oh yeah, you are still here" he retorted dryly, his eyes twitched when Naruto muttered something about 'old coots with memory problems' "Continue"

"As I was saying, my physical training is lacking. If I'm to start my classes in the Academy in two years, I need a Taijutsu Style suitable for me. And don't even say that its favoritism because the other kids have parents to teach them basics or if they have clan, then the clan's own style. Now I'm not saying to ditch your work and train me, no. what I'm saying is to direct me towards someone who is a Taijutsu master."

The Hokage leaned in his chair and hummed in thought. He had to admit the boy made a valid point, all the major and minor Clans trained their kids as soon as they were able to handle it. At the same time, it brought home the fact that Naruto would never know the warmth and love of his parents. Sometimes fate was just cruel.

Naruto was waiting for the wizened Hokage to make up his mind and dismiss him, and unfortunately for him, the old man was too lost in his thoughts. Well he was soon to be a ninja and ninjas use anything to ensure their victory. Fortunately for him, he knew the old man's hidden hobby.

"Oi old man, I heard something about a new Icha Icha Novel for free by a white haired man."

"Where?" the old pervert asked, a trickle of blood leaking from his nostrils as he shot up from his chair. He could almost taste and smell the deliciousness that was Icha Icha. As soon as he noticed the massive sweat drops on the back of his Anbu and Naruto's head, he coughed nervously to regain what little dignity he had left, glaring daggers at the cheeky blond and the quietly snickering Anbu in the corner of the room.

"Very funny Naruto, now I think you make a valid point and so I'm going to help you. I'm sure you have heard and read about Maito Gai in the reports you helped me with. He trains solo but I am sure once he sees your… youthfulness" he paused as a shiver went up his spine at the word youthful "he will agree to at least give you a few pointers about Taijutsu"

"Thanks old man" Naruto stated gratefully "Where can I find him?"

"He mostly trains in the training ground 10"

He almost had the mind to tell him to watch out for the Jonin's rather … eccentric behavior, but after the stunt he had pulled on him and the blow to his dignity, he wanted the cheeky bastard to suffer as much.

'Oh I'm going to love the look on your face when you meet him, you blond son of a…'

His train of thoughts came to a screeching halt when he realized that he had almost insulted the nasty tempered redhead, known as Naruto's mother. If she found out he had called her a bitch, she would tear ribbons out of his old wrinkly hide with a wide and sweet smile on her face.

Naruto looked on as the Hokage's expression changed from embarrassed to smug to horror. He had no idea what was going on in the old timer's mind and frankly he was neither in the mood nor in the right state of mind to care.

"Old man, I don't know what is going on in that ancient head of yours, but I thought I would let you know that I may have a solution to your paperwork problem" Naruto blinked in surprise when he saw the old man on his knees, with both hands pressed in a begging gesture in front of him.

"I beg of you to tell me the solution oh great Master! I will do anything to get it. Anything!" he cried out desperately.

The blond Jinchuriki sweat dropped at the old man antics. This was the Third Hokage of Konoha, the man known as the Professor?! Well he could use this to his advantage.

"Anything?" he asked skeptically and raised an eyebrow.

"Absolutely anything within my power!" the old Hokage cried.

'He must be pretty desperate' he thought with a sweatdrop, however soon his deadpan expression turned to absolutely evil 'I am going to enjoy torturing you. You will regret your decision by the time I'm done with you'

An evil looking version of Naruto inside his mind, dressed in a satanic custom with a long evil looking staff in his hand, chuckled manically and rubbed his hands together while his eyes gleamed demonically.

The Professor didn't like the blond's look one bit.

"Ok fine, but remember, . " Naruto announced firmly, hiding an evil smile "I'm going to collect it later. Now if I understand correctly, there are many types of clone like Simple clone, Earth style clone etc. there is also another clone technique called the Shadow Clone. I don't know the specifics of the Jutsu, but I know this much that it transfers its information to the original when it's dispelled"

He knew it was despicable of him but he took absolute joy from the look on the professor's face while the hidden Anbu face palmed. Why didn't they think of that?

The Third Hokage on the other hand was having a mental breakdown, his jaw on the floor, eyes wide open like saucers. He was the Professor, he knew all the Jutsus in the Konoha Library, a man who fought in three Great Ninja Wars, he led Konoha to victory for over 50 years with wisdom and courage. What was the point of knowing so many Jutsu when you are too dumb to use it?

"That's why that blond bastard finished his work so fast. He knew the solution to the bane of all kages and didn't tell me. Damn You Minato"

The Anbu and Naruto could only watch with perfect goldfish expressions on their faces while the Third started to throw every curse word he knew at the fourth Hokage's photo once again. After a few minutes, old man sat down from exhaustion while grumbling about 'blond bastards not sharing things'.

Without wasting another second, he quickly made two Shadow clones and ordered them to start working on the paperwork, rubbing his hands in glee as he threw back his head while laughing manically. Naruto stepped back just in case and slowly edged towards the door to get out of there.

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 **Training Ground 10**

Naruto arrived at the training ground of team 10 only to be met with the most ridiculous and absurd sight he had ever seen in his short life. A man wearing a standard Jonin vast over a green spandex suit with bowl cut black hair was standing upside down on his fingers and doing pushups, sweat trailing down his body like a fountain.

"Hello, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. Might Guy, I presume?"

The spandex wearing man stopped his workout and jumped to stand straight on his feet, wiping away the torrent of sweat from his brows as he took deep breathes to calm himself down.

Naruto had to actually stop himself from shouting when he saw the giant eyebrows directed at him. Could those things even be called eyebrows? Wait, were they moving!

"Hello my youthful friend! Yes i am Might Guy, the noble and handsome Green Beast of Konoha!" Guy bellowed with a good guy pose and showcased sparkling teeth "What can I do for ya?"

'That image is going to haunt me for life. The old man is going to pay for not informing of this' Naruto thought with a shudder, already thinking of ways to torture the old man for not telling him of this… nightmare!

"I was informed that you were the most efficient Taijutsu user in Konoha. I request your permission to train here so..." The next few words were going to leave a very bad taste in his mouth "…that I may stroke my Flames of youth to be as bright as yours"

Schooling his features and taking control of the shivers, he looked up only to sweat drop when he saw tears flowing like a river from Guy's eyes. Guess, the eccentric Jonin was impressed by his ...ahem… youthfulness.

"Such passion, such youthful spirit, such determination, I couldn't be more proud!" the eccentric Jonin cried in his usual boisterous voice, anime tear streaming his face like a waterfall "I would be honored to train a person with as bright Flames of youth as you!"

Naruto smiled softly and bowed slightly "Thank you, Guy Sensei"

"No problem, Naruto. Now to begin our training, let us run around the village five hundred times as a warm up!" he stated loudly, before sprinting off to the distance with a visible cloud of dust following him.

Naruto was left standing in the middle of the ground with wide comical eyes and dropped jaws of shock. Seeing as he had been the one to request a training session with the eccentric Jonin, he had no choice but to accept the terms of his training methods. Before sprinting after the spandex wearing Jonin, Naruto couldn't help the feeling of foreboding from appearing in his head when he recalled his words that these laps around the village were supposed to be simple warm up.

'What have I gotten myself into?'

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 **Constructive criticism will be appreciated. It's my first story, so if a few clichés appear, kindly ignore them. The first few chapters may be a little small or even under developed but it gets better in later chapters, believe me!**

 **Kindly leave a review!**


	2. Chapter 2: Genin Days

Genin Days

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 **Main Street, Leaf Village, Two Years Later**

A nine year old Naruto was walking calmly through the bustling streets of Konoha towards the Hokage tower, all too aware of the hatred filled glares of the citizens he was supposed to protect. So ignorant of the truth, blinded by their hatred and rage towards the container instead of the contained. Humans fear what they don't comprehend or understand, that fear leads to unnecessary hatred towards the focal point of that fear whether it's a person or an object. In this case, Naruto was the center of their hatred.

While he didn't know the full story of the cause of their agony, he had a suspicion, thus the walk towards the Hokage office to get the long awaited answers to his ever increasing list of questions. He would get the answers he wanted one way or the other. Patience is good and all, but everything has limits and his was already past its limit.

They may think that they were being discrete, but it didn't hurt any less, not that he cared what the people thought about his life. He stopped caring long ago about their pathetic opinions. It may sound sadistic of him, but he was aching for a foolish villager to raise his fists against him so that he could rip him to pieces.

It's been two years since he joined Guy in his insane training regimen and it was fruitful to say the least. The man may be eccentric and sometimes on the border of insanity, but there was no questioning the effectiveness of his training. He had trained him to the point of exhaustion. His obsession with Physical training was his greatest trait. He believed that Taijutsu was the most effective of all the Ninja Arts and mostly it was correct.

In the Ninja world, always expect the unexpected. Guy in a rare moment of seriousness said 'Chakra can be exhausted, sealed off, absorbed etc, but your skills in hand to hand combat can neither be sealed nor stolen. Believe me it's going to save your life one day as it did mine so many times'.

He had taken his words to heart and had joined Guy in his insane training regime with more vigor and more determination than ever.

The Goken Taijutsu style that Guy used was a style more focused on heavy blows and speed and since his strength and speed were already sufficient enough, the eccentric Jonin had graciously offered to teach it to him. He had been awfully humbled that day by the generous heart of the bowl cut haired man.

"Listen to me, Naruto. This style requires more than just Physical training. So far, I haven't been able to master it to the degree it deserves but you have the potential to take it to even greater heights than I could ever imagine because you have the ability to properly utilize your Chakra. The Physical training required for the mastery of the style, coupled with Chakra enhancement, your blows would be on par with the Legendary Sanin, Tsunade"

The amount of faith and trust he had put in him, there was no way he could refuse and why would he refuse? Guy had him wear weights on his ankles and wrists to restrict his movement, had him run around the whole village until he couldn't run anymore. Forced him to spar with him until he couldn't even feel his own arms and legs, forced him to carry boulders on his shoulders and climb a mountain, ordered him to swim from one side of the Naka River to the other side with one hand while carrying a glass of milk.

His study in the Art of Sealing was going on in an outstanding pace. Sealing was the kind of art where you didn't need books or scrolls explaining everything, you need to understand the basics completely to understand the rest. Once you've done that, the rest was only limited to your imagination.

Such a magnificent art, so many possibilities, to be only limited by your imagination and creativity! A fine example is the Paper Bomb. A few lines on a simple piece of paper are able to blow things to smithereens. Not many could master it and to be frank, not many wanted to learn it, simply because they underestimated its effectiveness.

It was surprisingly easy for him, it seemed learning the art ran in his family.

He reached the Hokage office and blissfully disregarded the secretary's glare with an impassive look on his face. Knocking on the door three times, he received the permission to enter. Walking in, he was greeted to the familiar sight of the old Hokage as well as his clones sitting behind and around his desk stamping away papers while grumbling about it being unfair.

Upon his entry, the Hokage looked up from his work to greet him, but stopped when noticed the look on his face.

"What seems to be the problem Naruto?' he asked in concern and placed the stamp to the side before linking his hands together in front of him.

"I think it's high time you stopped beating around the bush and tell me the full truth" His cold and detached tone of voice even startled the Hokage since Naruto never used that cold tone with him, ever.

"Truth about what?"

"Truth about my Parents and why the people despise me"

"Naruto, I told you before I don't know your parents. As for the hatred of the people towards you, it's because they don't understand" he explained calmly, hoping it would satisfy the boy. Upon seeing the look full of rage and disgust on the boy's face, he knew it was wishful thinking.

"Do you take me for a fool; I walk these streets everyday listening to their hate filled words, seeing their glares. Do you know what they say? 'Demon' and 'fox brat' are some of the most colorful words they use to describe me. I already have a hypothesis; I only need you to confirm my suspicion"

"What hypothesis?" He knew that the cat had already left the bag. The blond had this uncomfortable knack for nearly accurate hypothesis. If he had already formulated a theory, then he was in trouble.

"My birthday is on 10 October and if I remember correctly, the Nine tails attacked the village on the same day. From what I have read in the Library, The Tailed Beasts are massive accumulations of Chakra given sentience and thus cannot be destroyed or killed. The only way to get rid of them is to seal them. Now it doesn't take a genius to put two and two and get twenty two. Not to mention the villagers colorful words like demon and Fox brat. In addition to that I have an Eight Trigram Seal on my stomach. So that leads me to the conclusion that it's sealed in me"

The old Hokage couldn't help but wince with each and every factor being mentioned, knowing all too well that they were true. The other factors could somehow be directed towards something else if he put his mind into it – after all, he was the Professor—but the existence of the Eight Trigram Seal on Naruto's stomach was a dead giveaway.

Even if he tried to come with something, the boy would refuse to comply since even if he was not a Master - not even a beginner actually - in the Sealing Arts, he was still proficient enough to know what that particular seal was.

"Judging from your expression, I would say I hit the nail on the spot" Naruto stated in a dry tone.

The wizened Hokage only sighed in resignation and helplessness "Yes, it's true that the Fourth Hokage sealed the Kyuubi in you, but you have to understand that he had no other choice. He intended for you to be seen as a hero…"

"… And being the loyal citizens that they are, the obedient and faithful people of Konoha took his words to heart and the 'Hero' was treated like a prince" His tone was practically dripping with sarcasm.

The Hokage ignored the blonde's blatant tone of intense sarcasm and continued with a wary sigh "I explained your situation to the Council, but they ignored the Fourth's wish and demanded your execution. I put a law to insure your continued survival. The law was that should anyone speak of your Jinchuriki status to another, both were to be executed"

"Great load of good that did"

" I know" the old man admitted with a defeated sigh and gazed at the boy with a curious expression "I have to say I'm impressed with the way you're handling the news"

"Fear not Old man, I bear them no ill will, though I should let you know, if they slap me, I will punch them, if they punch me, I will kick them. And if they harm me, I will **…. Kill them** " At the end of his sentence, his tone almost sounded demonic. The old man could have sworn he a saw an aura of Fire around the blond Jinchuriki for a few brief second before vanishing without a trace" Now tell me about my parents"

"I am forbidden to tell you until and unless you reach Chunin rank" he replied firmly.

"Lord Hokage, I assure you I can take anyone of your low Chunin down in hand to hand combat, I'm a civilian just by name so that is a moot point. And who forbid you from telling me anyway? Was it the Fourth?"

The Hokage winced when the blond addressed him in such a formal manner. He didn't know whether he could really take on a low Chunin but he was not willing to find out. Anyone trained by Guy was sure to be a pillar of concrete when faced in a battle of Hand to Hand, He snapped his head towards the blond so fast, Naruto feared he may have broken his neck, when he mentioned the Fourth.

"Who told you that?!" he asked in horror. He was supposed to be the one to tell him when the boy became a Chunin. Whoever did tell the boy was going to be severely punished.

"You just did" he calmly retorted," so the Fourth forbid you from telling me the truth. The Hokage have no right to interfere in Clan or Family matters, so that must mean he was either my relative or something. But since I am not blind and can see that I look almost a carbon copy of him, I will take a wild guess and say that he was my father"

The Hokage looked like a fish out of water, his mouth opening and closing with uttering a word. The boy just took advantage of his surprise to get his answers! He looked towards his successor's son only to be met with a calm face and relaxed posture.

"Once again, you are correct. Minato Namikaze was your father and your mother was the whirlpool country Princess, Kushina Uzumaki" The Hokage muttered and slumped in his chair in resignation. Sometimes, he hated his job! Admitting all these truths in front of a child, he was once again reminded of his own age.

"You have no idea how much burden you've lifted from my tire shoulders old man. How many times have I wondered if my parents abandoned me for the same reason the villagers hated me, were they too disgusted to even acknowledge me as their son? Now I know, Thank you"

If the Hokage knew the boy would be in so much pain, he would have told him a long time ago. He had made too many mistakes in long life and no time for redemption.

Looking at the boy - no young man - he saw vulnerability on his face for the first time. The boy had the unique trait of staying calm at all times and situation, analyze the ups and downs and come up with a suitable solution. He had never shown such vulnerability in front of anyone, not even him.

Always staying calm and collected was the trait of war veteran Shinobi, yet the boy had it at such a young age. Sometimes his curious nature reminded him of his failure of a student. He too like the blond was too curious for his own good, always seeking answers to the mysteries of nature and life.

But if there was one thing the old man was certain, it was that Naruto would never sway to the dark side. He may be indifferent and cold towards others, but that was only as precaution to protect himself from betrayal. Taking his life into consideration, it wasn't much of surprise, living on the streets, eating from the thrown out food, protecting himself from mobs. It wasn't until he found him and gave him his own apartment complex. Now that malnourished kid had turned into the perfect example of a shinobi, even if he wasn't a Shinobi yet.

The tall blond was wearing a dark red skin tight shirt, over it a black leather jacket with Anbu pants and black steel toed boots. His blond hair was tied in long ponytail reaching up to the small of his waist, with two long bangs hanging on both sides of the face and a crimson facemask hiding half of his face. The tall stature, bulging but lean muscles, chiseled chest and abs - no doubt the result of his training with the insane Jonin - lead to a very intimidating presence even in such a young age.

Honestly, he was quite proud of the boy.

"Did my parents leave me anything?" He had no idea how much they had left him.

"I'm truly sorry to be a cause of your suffering, but I'd no choice. Yes they left you quit a fortune. Their mansion is located behind the Hokage monument near a lake, protected by a blood seal" said the Hokage in a sincere but guilty tone of voice "Now I have some good news. The Academy is starting tomorrow; I have taken the liberty of enlisting your name. They should be expecting you by tomorrow"

He wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it over to the masked blond "Give this to a teacher named Iruka and tell him that I send you. After your class, come to my office and we'll go together to see your house"

"Thank you. Oh and before I depart, I believe you own me a favor for solving your paperwork problem" Naruto started in a probing manner.

"Yes. I remember. What is it that you desire?" the aging Hokage asked with raised eyebrow.

"The same thing that solved your problem"

"The **Shadow Clone Jutsu**? Why would you need such a technique?" The Hokage had to admit he was intrigued, for the blond didn't ask for a technique unless it was of some use to him. For him to ask about it meant he had some use for it.

"The **Shadow Clone** memory transfer aspect interests me. It has many uses in training" Naruto shrugged nonchalantly, not revealing how much it interested him. If it could transfer memory, than couldn't he use it to learn something which would obviously take a lot more time if done the normal way? There was only one way to find out!

"Very well, I will be looking forward to its impact upon your training. But a word of warning, it takes an enormous amount of chakra to create, so be careful with its use"

He was absolutely sure that the blond Jinchuriki would never run out of chakra on something as simple as a Shadow Clone, but he had to deliver a warning just in case.

"Don't worry; I have chakra in spades" Naruto said dismissively "Another thing, do you have a Chakra paper. There is a different feel to my Chakra that I can't describe. It's as if there is a continuous struggle between two forces, but one is a little stronger than the other?"

'Could it be the Kyuubi's chakra?' The professor mused while stroking his goatee. Different feel to his chakra? Did that imply that the blond was a Sensory Type? It was one surprise after another!

"Fortunately I have some with me right now" Sarutobi reached for a drawer on his desk and pulled an ordinary paper "Just hold it between your fingers and channel some chakra into the paper"

Naruto took the paper with interest and a hint of excitement. The Hokage looked on in amusement at the blonde's giddy expression, no matter how much the masked Jinchuriki tried to hide his giddiness, he couldn't hide it from the Professor.

Naruto channeled a tiny amount of Chakra into the paper and watched in barely concealed amazement when the paper was shredded and ignited in flames one after the other, while the Hokage's eyes almost popped out of its socket in astonishment.

Such inhuman affinity for the element Fire and a little for Wind was unheard of! Never in his life had he seen anyone with affinity as strong as the blond. What was even more frightening was that both these elements complimented each other.

When two Natures appeared which complimented each other, then it was possible to create an entirely new Style with enough mastery of the two natures.

"So I have Fire and Wind, but it seems my Fire affinity is far greater than that of Wind. Interesting, yes very interesting indeed. I wonder if my Fire affinity is due to my tenant as all the Biju's have some type of special ability specific only to them" Naruto asked in genuine curiosity and excitement.

Hey, he may be a cold bastard, but he was still human. Who wouldn't be excited when they have control over an element as cool as Fire?

"Naruto my boy, you are going to give me a heart attack one day. Having two elements that complement each other as an affinity is unheard of. Minato as far as I know had Wind+ Lightening affinity and your mother had Water and to a lesser extent Wind. It would be my guess as well that your Fire affinity is a 'gift' from your ...ahem... tenant" the aging Hokage stated simply, not trying to show how just how much the show had affected him as he recovered from his shock "Now get out of my office before you actually do give me a heart attack, I have work to complete"

"Yeah like reading that novel" Naruto deadpanned.

Hokage coughed in embarrassment at being caught red handed "None of your business"

"Fine, fine, you should look for a successor you know, your feet are already in your grave"

Without waiting for a response, Naruto leaped out of the window into the street below.

'I am not old dammit'

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 **Training Ground 10**

After his rather long and fruitful debate with the old man, he was aching for some action to let out some steam. He walked towards the training ground in a relatively sedate pace to enjoy the breathtaking panorama nature had created. It was not every day that he got the opportunity to enjoy nature. Humans takes what they have for granted and desire what they don't have. Only the blind knows the value of sight, only the deaf knows the blessing that is hearing.

Speaking of hearing and seeing, he had to find a way to communicate with the Chakra entity.

He arrived at the training ground and was disappointed to find it empty. He had been hoping to spar with eccentric Jonin, but it seemed he was on a mission.

'Well there goes that idea. What to do now. Oh I know'

He took out the scroll the Sandaime had given him, containing the **Shadow Clone Jutsu** and carefully read through the content to know everything there was to know about the Technique, after all it wouldn't do to realize its shortcomings in the midst of a battle. Call him a perfectionist, but he preferred to know everything before entering a situation.

Two hours later, he laid down below a tree in the vast training ground, with his hands behind his head as he looked at the floating clouds in the sky.

So much freedom, free of any desire and emotion, no fear, no hate, going where the winds took it! It must be pretty sensational to be like the clouds in the sky above with no worries. The hypnotic motion of the clouds was making him drowsy as his eyes fluttered from tiredness. Just as he was about to close his eyes and enter the dream world, he heard a sound greatly resembling that of a whimper coming from behind the many trees.

Curiosity got the better of him as he slowly made his way around the trees. What he saw made his blood boil and his face red with absolute rage and disgust. Two teenagers were beating on a small red fox kit. They must have been started beating the kit a few moments ago if the numerous fresh bruises were any indication.

Actions like these were what made him hate the villagers even more. So blinded by their hate that they couldn't even differentiate between a Demon and a small kit! Now that he knew the full truth of the hatred towards him, the stupidity of the villagers became glaringly obvious. They were releasing their anger on something an innocent kit as if it was the kit's or foxes as a whole, fault.

"Leave the kit alone" Naruto said in cold voice, his face completely blank as he emerged from the bushes. The two teens looked up from their beating of the fox to notice Naruto standing behind them with his hands folded over his chest.

"Oh, trying to save your kind?" one of the teenager sneered. He was wearing a Forehead protector signifying his Ninja status. From the feel of his Chakra, he was obviously Genin level, but it seemed that the increase in rank got to his head.

"Yeah, Beat it before we start kicking your ass, Fox brat!" The other Genin said in a smug tone.

"Such arrogance" Naruto unfolded his arms and gestured towards them "By all means, Show me what Genins like you can do, but I assure you the results will not be…pleasant"

The two Genins gritted their teeth in anger and pulled out a Kunai. With a roar, both of them charged the still Naruto. The Genins hurled their Kunais at the same time, hoping to kill the Demon, only to gape when Naruto caught the Kunais out of midair and twirled them between his fingers "Is that all you can do. I have to say I'm disappointed by your mediocre performance and you call yourselves Shinobi? Pathetic"

"Don't mock us Demo… agh" The first Genin screamed in pain when a harsh blow connected with the back of his head and viciously slammed him into a tree. The last thing he saw was another copy of the blond rendering his teammate unconscious with a punch to the head.

Naruto looked in disgust at the two unconscious teens. Only Genins and yet the level of their ego and arrogance was bigger than the Hokage Monument. The level of control they showed over their emotions, hinted at the true colors of the so called Ninja Academy. Slight provocation was enough for them to lose sight of their objective. If this was how Genins were supposed to be when they graduated, he'd rather train by himself than waste his time there.

He kneeled down near the injured kit and reached to check its wounds. The kit flinched at his touch and growled threateningly, but relaxed as soon as Naruto started petting him. The blond Jinchuriki noticed some bruises but fortunately no bleeding "Hello little one, would you like to come with me?"

The kit yipped in response and wiggled his tail vigorously. Taking that as a yes, Naruto took the cute fox and placed it on his shoulder. The red adorable animal wrapped himself around him and nuzzled his neck as he started walking back into the village.

He conveniently ignored their glares and even returned the more daring ones. After a few minutes, he reached his rundown apartment and took out a key from his pocket, opened the door and walked in with the kit in tow. Taking some bandages from his First Aid kit, he wrapped the bandages around the bruised area.

With that done, he placed the now drowsy kit on the side of his bed and turned to the bathroom to do his nightly routine.

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 **Next Morning**

The next morning, Naruto woke up as soon as his internal clock reached the routine waking time and looked towards the small kit sleeping soundly. Giving a little smile at the adorable sleeping fox, he softly ran his hand through its delicate fur and headed for the bathroom to take a shower.

During the shower, he heard a small tapping on the glass door; he opened the door slightly to see the kit standing there with his tail wiggling in excitement.

"Sorry but the shower is occupied" seeing as the fox remained unmoving, he sighed in resignation" Fine, but wait for a minute"

Man, the small fox was even more stubborn than him!

An hour later, the human and Fox duo were in the kitchen having breakfast. Some scrambled eggs, toast and a glass of orange juice. The noticeably cleaner kit was happily munching on a piece of meat under the table. Naruto was wearing a black high collar black T shirt, dark green camouflage pants and black boots. His hands were covered in blood red bandages up to his elbow and a full black mask over his face.

Today was going to be his first day in the Academy. He had already seen its result and wasn't exactly jumping with excitement. But he'd give it a chance, it may prove interesting, if not, then he could always leave a Shadow clone in his stead. Done with his breakfast, he piled the dishes in the sink and walked towards the door with the fox following closely behind.

It was still early, so there were no idiotic villagers glaring at him. He could've have roof hopped but he wanted to enjoy his freedom before he was confined to the Academy.

Reaching the Academy, he came upon a somewhat depressing scene, well depressing for him anyway. He saw a small boy his age hugging his parents while grinning from ear to ear. The parents had beaming smiles on their faces, obviously happy for their child.

While he had come to terms with his loneliness, that didn't mean he wouldn't miss them even if he had not met them. Sometimes he wondered what it would be like to bask in the love from his mother, for his father to shower praise upon him on his success, give him presents on his birthday or to at least come home to his smiling parents while saying "I'm home" and to receive the response of "Welcome back son".

But that was wishful thinking, besides he was to be a Shinobi and Shinobi never let such trivial and useless emotions getting between him and his mission. They died for their village in courage, while their sacrifice was wasted on a useless village like Konoha, it was courageous sacrifice nonetheless.

He passed the hugging family to sit on a swing hanging from a tree, his face devoid of any emotion, not that anyone could see it behind his black face mask. The Kit jumped up and sat in his lap, purring in bliss as Naruto started petting him absentmindedly.

A ring snapped him out of his dazed state as he looked towards the front gate and noticed students swarming into the Academy. He waited for the last of the student to enter before walking in himself.

Iruka looked towards the door to notice a tall masked figure with a small fox kit standing on his left shoulder. His outfit did not match that of the Anbu or any other section of the Ninja corps, so that left the only conclusion that he was a new student "Can I help you?"

He tensed a little when the masked figure reached into his pocket, but relaxed when he pulled out a piece of paper.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I believe the Hokage mentioned something of my visit. He gave me this to give to you"

Iruka visibly tensed - which didn't go unnoticed by Naruto - when his name was mentioned. What was the Hokage thinking, enlisting this brat in the Academy with innocent children? He must be going senile in his old age. While he had nothing against the boy for being the container of the Tailed Beast, but he had no sympathizes for him either.

"Yes I'm Iruka. Please introduce yourself to the class" Iruka said in a stiff voice.

Naruto looked towards the class and let his eyes roam over each of them, unnerving them greatly by his cold piercing blue eyes through the eyeholes of the mask "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. Leave me alone and I'll leave you alone, however bother me and I'll make your life a living hell; that is all you need to know"

Many of the students shivered from the cold tone and the piercing eyes. That kid was Scary with a capital S.

"Ah… t-that would be all. Sasuke, please raise your hand so he can see you. Naruto, you can sit near Sasuke" Iruka cursed to himself when he stuttered slightly. Judging from the introduction, the scarred Chunin had a feeling that the boy was going to be a major pain in his dolphin ass.

Naruto couldn't help but smirked behind his mark when he heard the Chunin's stutter. He slowly walked between the rows of student up to his seat. The elegance and grace with which he walked had the whole class entranced, as if he was gliding over the earth. His seatmate so to speak was a duck butt-shaped black haired boy with his elbows on the desk, fingers interlaced and looking out of the window in a perfect brooding pose.

'This must be Itachi's younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha, the 'Last Loyal Uchiha'.

He knew of course, of the complete annihilation and genocide of the entire Uchiha Clan in a single night by one of their own no less, Itachi Uchiha. Now that was the kind of Ninja he respected, anyone who destroyed that clan was a good guy in his book. His personal feelings aside, he had met the Anbu captain many times in the Hokage office and he had to say he was impressed.

The man never let anything surprise him, always in control of his emotion and a blank expression on his face, the fact that he was the only one to really work for his strength and power, without using his monkey eye was a plus in his book. He was a' True Shinobi' through and through.

He calmly sat down in his seat and looked to the front, only to be met with stares "Is there something on my face?"

The students twirled their heads back to the front in fright. Iruka started his lecture again about History, seriously! History in a Ninja Academy? Naruto tuned out Iruka as soon as he started and took the time to analyze the students. Now that he looked closely, most of the students were from civilian families, and the rest were Clan Heirs.

Shino Aburame. Heir to the Aburame Clan of Konoha, a clan of insects user, calm, collected and firm believers of Logic. Mostly Tracker-nins and Hunter-nins due to their insects. Known for their insects' ability to sense and feed on Chakra. Quiet and distant, a trait crucial for a Shinobi. Naruto was sure that he would be quite an effective Shinobi with the way he was.

Kiba Inuzuka. Heir to the Inuzuka Clan of Konoha, a clan of dog users, brash, headstrong and dog like behavior. Mostly Tracker-nins and Hunter-nins due to their dog like sense of smell. Known for their special Taijutsu and their collaboration Ninjutsu with their doggy companions. Most interesting thing about the boy was his canine teeth, slitted eyes, two red marks on his cheeks and a small pup resting on his head. Brash, arrogant and if the leering looks he was giving the females were any indication, a shameless pervert. He was going to kill himself if he didn't lose his arrogance.

Shikamaru Nara. Heir to the Nara Clan of Konoha, a clan of Shadow users, lazy, obsessed with the word 'troublesome', but incredibly effective strategists. He had read almost all the strategies used in the last three Ninja Wars made by the Nara's and he had to admit he was impressed with its simple nature but incredible results. If he worked a little on his physical strength, he might become a formidable Shinobi. But considering his lazy posture and his family laziness, he wasn't going to hold his breath on that one.

Ino Yamanaka. Heiress to the Yamanaka Clan of Konoha, a clan of Mind walkers, usually blond haired and partners of the Nara and Akimichi Clan. Mostly Interrogators and Deciphers. Known for their Mind walking jutsu and ability to possess the body of others by transferring their spirit into them. Weak, skinny and from the looks she was giving the Uchiha heir, a fangirl. Maximum chance of dying on her first real mission.

Chouji Akimichi. Heir to the Akimichi Clan of Konoha, a clan of Special Ninja Art, the Expansion Technique, obsessed with food, peace loving and partners of the Nara and Yamanaka clan. Mostly used for defense. Known for their Special Expansion Jutsu and incredible destructive capabilities. He really should work on his eating habits. He at least had a chance of passing the Exam.

Hinata Hyuuga. Heiress to the Hyuuga Clan of Konoha, a clan of a special Taijutsu Style users, the Gentle Fist, usually dark haired, arrogant with enormous egos. Mostly Tracker-nins and Hunter-nins due to their Dojutsu. Known for their 'All Seeing Eye' and their Gentle Fist Taijutsu style, the ability to see and seal off Chakra points along with 360 degree vision. Meek, lacking self-esteem and a gentle heart, all the traits a Shinobi shouldn't have. But she could pass if she gained a backbone.

There was also another girl, obviously a civilian from the feel of her less than noticeable Chakra level named Sakura Haruno. Large forehead, wait a minute; is that pink hair? Ok pink hair. The only thing noteworthy about her was her intelligence.

"Ok class, who can tell me the name of the First Hokage?" Naruto groaned and almost banged his head against the desk, almost. The small kit looked at his master in pity.

'These are going to be the longest three years of my life'

It was decided, he was not going to show up at the Academy till the Graduation Exam and if the old man complained, he was going to kick his wrinkly ass to the era of the Rikodou Sennin. His clone would attend the Academy; In the meantime, he would practice his Fire and Wind affinity and see if he could somehow speak with the giant Fox

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English is not my native Language, so if there are mistakes, just ignore them or point it out to me.

Kindly leave a review!


	3. Chapter 3: Graduation and D Rank Mission

**Chapter 3 = Graduation and D Rank Missions**

 **Guest: Thanks. English is not my native language, but I try. As for your suggestion regarding Kiba. I think it would be wise to inform you that I have no intention of seriously bashing Kiba, I was just explaining his behavior. Please don't tell me you think Kiba is not a pervert?**

 **Guest 2: Well you wanted an update, here it is, hope you enjoy it.**

 **Anarion87: Thanks. Appreciation for an Authors work gives him the strength to continue. So thanks again.**

 **Guest 3: Who I hate and who I don't is my own business. If you don't like my bashing of that arrogant Uchiha prick, then kindly leave.**

 **Djberneman: That would be funny as hell. I think I'll use that idea of yours, it certainly has merit.**

 **Noahendless: Thanks. What is the most interesting thing you find in this fic?**

 **KamiKageRyuketsu: There are two ways to say something. For example, please eat your food, is the formal one and stuff your face with food is the rude one. What you're saying is definitely the rude one, but if I answer you the same way, then there wouldn't be much of a difference between you and me. So I will say it the formal way. I don't recall saying anything about my story being a Dark one, I said that Naruto is going to be Cold towards those he doesn't trust while friendly towards people he trusts. I don't know where you got the idea that I'm writing a dark story, but kindly discard it from your mind. And who told you to read my fic in the first place anyway?**

 **Banjo the fox: Thanks for the compliment. When you read this chapter, you will see his attitude towards the Sandaime and the Civilian Council.**

 **MIKE202303: Well here you go. Enjoy.**

 **An: all flamers, please if you don't like my story, kindly escort yourself to another story and take your comments with you. As for the rest of my readers, I know you all must be thinking that I broke my word by not updating in a week, sorry, its because this chapter is almost nine thousand words instead of my usual five.**

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The early morning cool breeze, birds tweeting, Ninja's roof hopping to either get a mission or had already gotten their assignment and are racing to complete it, shopkeepers opening their shops, in all likelihood a normal morning in Konoha. However the area around the Ninja Academy was especially bustling with students for it was the day of the inevitable, Graduation. Excitement, nervousness and anxiety could be felt practically oozing from the anxious wannabe Ninjas. Students chatting away with each other about the coming exam, how hard it was going to be. Some puffing their chests in pride and proclaiming that they were going to blast through the exam with ease.

Sitting far away from everyone on a swing was one Naruto Uzumaki, staring at the pathetic display of excitement and nervousness with cold indifference, his fox familiar lying on his front paws, obviously sleeping. The fox had grown quite big, now as big as an average dog with viscous looking claws since Naruto had exposed him to kyuubi's Chakra and trained him to be his support just like the Inuzuka's.

They were excited whereas they should be ashamed, they were nervous whereas they should be improving their selves to survive. He'd bet his reputation on the fact that many of these weren't even going to make it through one day, that is if they by some remote chance or miracle pass the actual exam. They didn't even release the risk they were putting themselves into just by being in the Academy. They were in a world of their own creation, full of colors, where they were rescuing Princesses from dragon guarded castle, saving entire countries, defeating Demons, and above all, proclaimed as 'Hero's'.

The only thing heroic about being a Ninja was dying a worthy death by a worthy foe. What disgusted him even more was the fact that the Instructors didn't inform them of the true nature and color of the Ninja world, how gray and dull it really was, full of death and wars. It was either kill or be killed. Success of the objective was the main priority by all means necessary. There was no place for naïve idiots and niceties and yet these children were unaware of the impending threat to their safety. Being so casually thrown into the horrors of the Ninja world without being aware of its true nature, they were going to be in for a very rude awakening.

Much has changed since that day to the Hokage office. After his class, he and the old man had gone to his family compound

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Flashback

The Hokage and Naruto walked wordlessly through the trees located behind the Hokage Monument, the former contemplating the strange look on the latter's face, silently smoking from his pipe and praying for the poor sap, while the latter considering ways to torture the old man for not telling him of the kiddie zone known as the Ninja Academy.

Ninja my ass, those fools didn't know the first thing about being a ninja.

They reached the compound in relative silence, both unaware of the others thoughts. The compound didn't appear that big from the outside, it was located near a beautiful lake with its personal training ground. The gate was obviously locked with a seal and from its appearance a blood recognition seal, designed to open only to the owner in possession of the creator's blood. The Hokage turned to the blond "I don't think I need to explain what the seal is for, do i?" The blond strolled towards the gate and ignored the Hokage. Smearing a drop of blood on the surface of the seal, he stepped back as he heard the door open with a hiss. He entered the compound almost mindlessly.

To think that he had this compound and yet he had to live in that crappy apartment, he could have lived here in safety. The village council had the audacity to make it look like they were doing him a favor by giving him that apartment. His hatred of the old man and the council went up a notch, the old man for lacking a backbone.

The compound was not that big from the inside as well. The front yard was pretty big with a side pond for fishes. The inside was wide but comfortable for a moderate family and more than enough for him. The house consisted of five rooms with its own bathrooms and a master bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, a rather large Library, a dojo, an armory and an interior hot spring. The rooms were beautifully decorated with a homely feel to it. All in all, it was perfect for him.

"Thank you Lord Hokage, that would be all. Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to get some rest" The Sandaime turned to the blond in disbelief and shock due to the sudden conversion in his behavior and his cold formal tone, but dismissed it as another trait of the blond.

"As you wish Naruto. See you later". With that said, the Hokage turned and departed.

Naruto didn't even turn to watch the old man leave; he stared absentmindedly at the large portrait of who he presumed to be his mother and his father, hanging from a wall in the living room. They were standing closely with each other with glowing smiles on their faces. He could almost picture himself standing between them smiling broadly. Naruto shook his head to clear his thoughts and summon two Shadow Clones.

"Go and retrieve my belongings from the apartment. Make sure nobody sees you". The clones exited the living room and dashed towards the apartment to fulfill their mission.

'Why did you have to sacrifice your lives for a worthless and useless village like Konoha' Naruto thought as he stared at the portrait of his deceased father and mother.' Well no use living in the past. You may have sacrificed yourself for this piece of trash out of love and duty, but I hold no such pity attachments'

Naruto turned towards the Master bedroom to get some shut eye, because tomorrow was going to be the day he started his real training aka Fire and Wind manipulation and control.

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End Flashback

Since then, training out of everyone's sight was no longer a subject of concern. He could train to his heart's content without any worry of his secrets being exposed as he was a foremost supporter of the Shinobi Rule 'deception is the ultimate weapon of a Ninja'. He had three years to know about his Fire and Wind affinities true power and how to effectively control them and he was going to squeeze it for all its worth. The Academy could go to hell for all he cared; the clone was enough for what he had now dubbed 'Kiddie Zone'. All he had to do was focus on his training till the Graduation.

Fire while wild in Nature was pretty easy to manipulate. All it required was how to determine its direction and its intensity. He would create a few hundred clones to practice manipulation and to increase its intensity to inconceivable heights, to make it so hot it could vaporize a water body before even touching it. He was a bit of a Perfectionist, but that was not a bad trait. In the Ninja world, it was better to be safe than sorry, to have time and yet waste it, was not only foolish but also suicidal. The Fire element training brought some fascinating revelation to the surface.

The first was that the element required only a minuscule amount of Chakra to create. The more you used it, the easy it became to manipulate. Meaning the more you trained in its manipulation, the easier it became to control. Naruto and his clones were training non-stop for the past three years even when during the Wind manipulation training since the two complimented each other and since it was easy to control. The thought to control Fire without moving an inch would be appealing to everyone and he was no exception. He may be cold towards others but he still desired power as much as the next person.

The second was his apparent immunity to the element Fire. The revelation was in fact accidental but welcomed nonetheless. He was sparing with his clones when one of the idiotic clone had suddenly formed a massive fireball in his hand and discharged it at him in fit of rage, when he had kicked all the other clones asses. For the first time in his life, he was afraid and frightened for his life. He had his eyes closed, waiting for the inevitable pain and agony of being burned alive and yet no pain came. He had opened his eyes cautiously to see what had happened, only to see a scorched ground around him with his clothes burned off his body completely.

While he had been angry at the idiotic clone for shooting a fireball at him and was likely going to kick his ass, he had needs for him, he had the clone disperse another fireball at him to confirm his suspicion. The clone had shot another fireball and Naruto came to a startling realization, his Immunity to Fire.

Wind on the other hand was fierce and harder to control. The training it required took a lot of time, but he had enough time to at least raise it to a level where he could augment his Fire attacks with it. He had to begrudgingly seek out the Hokage's help, who he hadn't seen since that day in his family compound, since wind users are expectedly rare in Fire Country. The man was pleasantly surprised to see his surrogate grandson, but was disappointed to know that he had come for business. It seemed his son Asuma Sarutobi was also a Wind user and had directed him to seek the man out.

Meeting with the chronic smoke addict was interesting to say the least. The man was laid back, with an easy going personality and sort of a lazy ass and his favorite trait, playing Shogi. The bearded Jonin was also quite proficient with the element Wind, proven by his demonstration of cutting through a tree and a boulder at the same time with his signature Chakra conductive Trench Knives.

The Jonin had instructed him to imagine the wind as two edges grinding against each other continuously. After a match of Shogi which the man had lost with a bang, Naruto had left a gaping Asuma to train with the new information in mind.

Creating clones, he had them try to cut leaves sharply and finely in the middle. That exercise was easy compare to the other exercise, to cut the flow of a waterfall with just by channeling Wind Chakra through it. Finding a damn waterfall even a small one had proven to be a major pain in the ass. But as luck would have it, he found a small one near the Uchiha District. Cutting its flow had proven to be harder than it had seemed at first and he had to find that out the hard way by Chakra exhaustion.

That's where he came to the disappointing realization that his Wind element needed much more Chakra than his Fire element, small amount as compare to others, but the thought was depressing nonetheless. If his Fire needed as much Chakra as a **Transformation Technique** , then his Wind needed as much Chakra as **Shadow clone**. He could manipulate Fire with just a flick of his hand, create it with just a thought, the only limit being his imagination, but with Wind, he had to use it as everyone would. He had trained in it as much as he could but had lost his interest in it and focused even more on Fire.

For Wind, he had to see scrolls to learn a Jutsu which he couldn't since he was an Academy student at the time. But he doubted there would be anything useful in the Genin section of the library.

The Art of Sealing was his favorite after Fire manipulation. He couldn't describe the sheer extent of the Art, the more you study it, the more ideas you get. A creative mind coupled with the Art of Sealing was a potential recipe for disaster and he already had that kind of mind. Maybe it was his Uzumaki genes speaking, but if he had to choose between the Ninja Arts, he would choose Sealing. He had made considerable success in the Art seeing as he could make the basic necessities of Ninja such as Storage scrolls and Explosive tags, however he had to make his own unique.

For example, storing a lot more Chakra in the Explosive tags to make it even more destructive. Making Paralysis seals had to be his Favorite, to make your opponents freeze with just a touch of your hand, had him drooling. That was not all, he was merely in intermediate level, he had much to improve and advance.

He made a deal with Tenten's father Daisuke Higurashi, he would provide him with the modified seals and he only had to give him half of the profit, since the man owned a Weapon store, he had to keep the producers name a secret. He had also started to work with the Higurashi family at their shop as a weapon forger, not to earn money, but to learn how to make weapons and because he considered it as physical training; it had endowed him marvelously. His already tall stature and now the bulging muscles from hours upon hours of hard work parted ways to a menacing body.

' **Stop your trip down memory lane Human, The students are entering the Academy'** came a booming voice from within his mind. Ah yes, that was another thing he had accomplished in his three years self-training session.

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Flashback

Naruto panted as he dodged another relentless strike from one of his clones and retaliated with a backhand to the face, dispelling him instantly. He tiredly raised his palm towards his clones and muttered

" **Fire Stream** "

A raging stream of fire emitted from the palm of his hand and roared towards the horde of clones, burning them to a crisp. With the dispelling of his clones, he collapsed to the ground with a thud, sweat and small trail of blood initiating from his temple up to his jawline, struggling to catch his breath. The disadvantage of sparing with your clones is that when you dispel it during spare, the transfer of memory momentarily distracts your attention and focus from your fight, and thus getting yourself in trouble.

On the other hand, the advantage of sparing with clones is that you see your mistakes and gap in your combat style and come up with ways to improve it.

He lay there on the ground lazily, drifting towards unconsciousness due to exhaustion from the fight and the sudden influx of memories from the clones. Slowly opening he eyes, he came upon a strange sight, he was lying in a corridor with water up to his knees, yet not wetting him, with large pipes running down the corridor with small drops of water dripping down occasionally.

He didn't recall ever seeing a place like this in Konoha, considering the fact that he was quite acquainted with the sewers of the village. Seeing as there was no way but to explore the sewer to find an exit, he stood up and looked around curiously. Seeing a dim light, he calmly, but cautiously strolled down the corridor towards the faint light, only to come across a huge room. The strange part of the room had to be the iron bars reaching up to the roof, with an ordinary piece of paper attached to the middle of the bars and Kanji for Seal written boldly on it.

Judging from the malicious feel of the Chakra, the slight growl accompanying every breath of the resident, it was with a doubt the cage of the Nine Tails. Just as he reached the bars, a set of gleaming crimson eyes full of unrestrained anger and malice cracked opened, faintly illuminating the insides of the cage. In the blink of an eye, a giant paw with menacing claws clashed against the bars and stopped short of an inch from Naruto's face, who gazed on with an uninterested look on his face.

' **Interesting. You neither seem surprised due to my presence here and nor showed fear upon my attack'.** The kyuubi gazed at the blank faced blond in interest and curiosity. The fact that he seemed impervious to his presence meant that he knew of him beforehand, as well as the lack of fear when he attacked him led him to the result that he had become indifferent to everything around him or maybe because he knew the attack won't reach him, either way he seemed interesting.

'I have known of your presence long ago, not that it's hard to figure out considering the villagers colorful titles for me. As for your other question, that would be because I sensed no malice in your attack, meaning you merely wanted a reaction from me' Naruto said with blank face, with his hands folded over his broad chest. The kyuubi grinned in amusement and interest, finding his deduction and perception skill to be fascinating.

' **You are quite perceptive for a human, Mortal**.' The kyuubi smirked ' **Now that the pleasantries are over, tell me of the reason for your visit to my humble abode'**

'You call attacking me with your claws as pleasantries' Naruto thought with a sweatdrop, looking at the Kyuubi as though he had grown a second head.

'I'm not here of my own accord, though I've to say I have wanted to meet you for quite some time now but I didn't know how to' Naruto said calmly. The grinning visage of the Kyuubi was terrifying to say the least. He now understood the fear the villagers exhibited towards the Kyuubi. The humongous body, the flicking tails and the crimson eyes made for a truly dreadful and frightening figure. Not much was visible except the menacing blood red eyes, the red-orange flicking tails and the gleaming set of jaws due to the dim light inside the cage.

' **why would you want to meet the reason for your hellish life, to get revenge, to gloat about being imprisoned or to tell me that I'm a mindless beast incapable of feelings or without conscious?'** the beast said in a menacing, but mocking tone.

'No'

' **Pardon?** ' the nine tailed beast murmured in disbelief,

'I said I'm not here to brag or to debase the significance of your existence'

' **That's unexpected, considering how much your kind likes to brag about their supremacy**. **If you're not here to gloat, then tell me the real reason you wanted to see me?'** Kyuubi had to acknowledge that the tall human grasped his interest, which only one human had ever caught.

'I'm not like my kind, overconfidence and arrogance leads to one's demise. Just because you're strong doesn't mean everyone is weak. Never rule out the possibility that no one can stop you, there will always be someone stronger than you. I know the limits of my abilities and thus work to push it even further. As for my reason for coming here, I'm only here to understand you' Naruto said with a blank face

' **Understand me. Are you serious**?' exclaimed the Chakra beast in a mocking tone ' **You are a thousand years too young to understand my being. I'm beyond your feeble comprehension**. **But who am I to stop you from your idiotic path. By all means, try.** '

'I've studied about your kind. Among all your nine 'siblings', you've always been the most mysterious one. You would vanish without a trace for years, never attacking any humans before without provocation and yet you appeared in Konoha out of the blue' Naruto asked, ignoring the beast's insult about his intelligence. Kyuubi gazed down at the intelligent human with interest clearly evident in his crimson eyes. It seemed the human had prepared for this meeting beforehand.

' **I'll say it again, you're quite intelligent for a human, but I'm not under any obligation to tell you my reason. You will have to earn my trust to know the truth. And by that I mean to prove that you are different from your kind as well as worthy enough to learn the let me tell you that it's not going to be easy, I've lived for thousands of years and only one human have ever earned my respect'**. The glimmer of amusement in the beast's eyes indicated that he was enjoying this too much for Naruto's taste.

'I see. I don't suppose you are going to shed some light on how I can prove myself to you' seeing the smirking visage of the kyuubi, he sighed 'I guess not. But you have my sincere gratitude for granting me the ability to manipulate Fire'.

With a small bow, he turned around to depart from what he knew to be his mindscape, when the booming voice of the Kyuubi stopped him in his track.

' **Human, before you leave, let me assure you that I bear you no ill will. I will lend you my chakra as long as you need, in exchange for the removal of a section of the Seal paper. It will allow me to see what you see, hear what you hear and feel what you feel. You can call it a symbiotic relationship, both parties benefiting from the deal.'** Naruto turned towards the bars once again and slowly walked forwards. Reaching the bars, a swirl of water formed around his feet and lifted him up to the seal paper. He cautiously tore a fourth of the seal and floated down.

'There. I've done my part of the deal. I trust you will do yours' with that done, he turned around and slowly disappeared from the mindscape.

' **You are a fascinating one, human'**. He may not know it, but Naruto had gained just a glimmer of respect from the colossal entity with that act of fearlessness alone. The human didn't even know him and yet tore a section of the seal just because he gave his word. No hesitation, no fear or lack of conviction. He will indulge the human for now and see if he was truly different from his arrogant kind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

End Flashback

Since then, he and his tenant had been in better terms with each other. For an entity who had lived for thousands of years, he was a walking treasure of information. Except the beast seemed to like torturing him, he would give him puzzles and leave him to figure it out, but that had also been entertaining since he liked puzzles and mind games.

To toy with your opponent's thoughts and feelings, manipulate him into doing something he would never do normally was absolutely exhilarating. It may look as a monstrous thing to do, but in the Ninja world, you had to do what need to be done to accomplish your mission. He had to admit manipulation and taunting his opponents was his favorite part during a fight. Those not in control of their emotion were easy to control, easy to lose focus and easy to bring down.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Naruto stood up to an imposing height of 6-1. He was wearing a black high collared cloak with long sleeves with nothing visible underneath and a black face mask. Before meeting with the tailed beast, he was wearing the mask just to unnerve people and not to show his emotion or his face expression to his opponent, but now he was wearing it because he had gained some interesting features from exposer to his tenants potent Chakra.

Looking around, he spotted no one in the Academy door, meaning they had already gone inside. He slowly strolled towards his class thinking about the upcoming exam and his Jonin sensei. Passing the exam would be like drinking water, honestly can it even be called an exam? Anyone who failed didn't deserve to even remain in the Academy, let alone the Ninja Corps.

Reaching the door, he slowly walked in, knowing everyone's eyes were on him. He had fabricated a striking image and reputation in the Academy for not putting up with anyone's crap. From the memories of his clones, he had never lost a Taijutsu fight or any other skill competition, but always remained distant and isolated from the rest of the students.

He strode up the row of students up to his seat at the far back and sat down. The teacher would enter soon and the faster he started this pathetic excuse of an exam, the sooner he could get to fight the Jonin. After waiting for a few minutes, a fairly average looking man wearing the standard Chunin vest and his brown hair hiked up in pineapple style, Iruka Omino entered the class.

"Good morning students. How are you all? You must be pretty excited about your examination" his question answered with loud chorus of 'Yes sensei', Iruka chuckled lightly "Alright, I would like to introduce you all to a new instructor Mizuki".

A silver haired man entered the class and slowly gazed towards the students with warm smile on his face. Naruto wasn't fooled by the smile, hatred, anger and vile emotions were practically oozing off of this man, plus he had the scent of a snake, and Naruto hated snakes.

"Mizuki here will be helping me with the exam. Now when I call your name, please come to the class next door to start off the exam and good luck" with that done, he and Mizuki turned around and left the class.

Slowly one by one, the students left the class to give their exam, some returning smugly with their Headbands showing proudly while others returning with downtrodden expressions. Since his last name was starting with u, he was almost last one.

Looking around, he found his expectation and theories about the numerous heirs of their Clans passing the exam were true as they were wearing their headbands. He however was surprised to find that Sakura Haruno had apparently passed the exam, but he had no doubt she'd passed due to her info regarding theories and history.

"Uzumaki Naruto" He stood up and slowly glided towards the door, his black cloak wavering in a non-existent wind, drawing the attention of the other students. Naruto smirked under his mask; sometimes it was too easy to scare the crap out of people. He knocked on the door of the next classroom and slowly entered without making a noise.

Iruka looked at the tallest student of his class, with something akin to guilt and sorrow. When the blond had first entered the class, he had to guiltily admit to being afraid of the boy, not that the boy's introduction made it any better. However, with the passage of time, he had started to see the boy in a different light. He was just a victim of the villager's ignorant hatred, a boy alone in world of darkness just by himself. He would be the same if he had to endure that kind of hatred or rather he'd be insane.

The boy would sit alone, eat alone and leave alone. He had never failed a test, never lost a Taijutsu fight. He did everything perfectly. The way he walked resembled that of a war hardened Shinobi, always ready to defend and attack, his black face mask without eyeholes scaring the crap out of people even him. But the most unnerving thing about the blond Jinchuriki was his stealth. He couldn't count the number of times the blond had sneaked up on him and had almost given him a heart attack; it was as if he was floating above the ground. He may have made the same mistake as the foolish villagers, but he would try to win the trust of the blond.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After The Exam

Naruto was once again sitting in his class, reading a book about seals and waiting for his Jonin sensei to arrive. The others had already left with their senseis. He hadn't expected Kurenai Yuuhi to be a Jonin instructor as she had never mentioned anything of the sort; then again that mischievous smile on her face said something else. This must have been her prank to get a reaction from him, but sadly she only got a raised eyebrow, not that she could've seen it under his mask.

Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka and Chouji Akimichi under Sarutobi Asuma.

Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuuga under Kurenai Yuuhi.

He, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno under Kakashi Hatake.

He had expected to be placed with the Uchiha and his sensei to be Kakashi, but he however hadn't expected Sakura Haruno to be placed in his team, the girl had no skill whatsoever. He had to find a way to break her foolish image of the world and replace it with its original color. If she did change then that would be for her own good, if she didn't, well she'd die, it's simple as that.

He had gathered information on the chronically late Kakashi. The man never arrived early to anything short of A rank or S rank mission, so that meant he had 2 hours to spare.

As he started to walk down the row of seats, the other two noticed him.

"Hey, where are you going? Aren't we suppose to wait for our Sensei?" came the shrieking voice of the one known as Sakura as she looked up from her 'Sasuke worshipping' to scold her tall teammate, even if she was afraid of him.

"Haruno, I suggest you lower your volume around me. My sensitive ears cannot endure that banshee scream of yours. And if you had enough information about whom you are to be under with, you would be doing the same thing I'm doing" Sakura flinched, hearing the deep cold monotone voice and hid behind Sasuke.

Naruto merely spared her another uninterested glance and left the class to go get some ramen and to see Ayame and Teuchi. The two didn't quite understand his words, but they soon got it when the man didn't showed up for another two hours.

"Where the hell is this guy?" Sasuke recoiled from the overly loud shriek with anime tears streaming down his face. He would endure that cold hearted blond bastard if it meant to keep his banshee of teammate silent. Just as he was about to dash out of the class when he saw his teammate attention shift from the door to him with stars shining in her eyes, the door to the class opened and a tall man walked in, his head buried in an orange book.

Kakashi was a fairly tall man, with gravity defying silver hair, standard Jonin vest over a black body suit and a pair of dark blue fingerless gloves with a silver plate on the back side and a face mask with his right eye hidden by his headband. He was standing there with a lazy look on his face, his right eye almost closed as if he was about to fall asleep right there.

"Team Seven I presume" he conveniently ignored the loud screech of 'you're late' from the pink one and noticed something or someone missing "Where is your other teammate?"

"Right behind you". Kakashi eyes or rather eye widened in surprise and disbelief and immediately twirled around only to see nothing. He sensed a presence on the ceiling of the class and looked up. There he was, standing upside down with his hands in his pockets. Kakashi gazed at the Fourth's legacy with interest and shock.

'I didn't even sense his presence. How did he even got behind me without me noticing? I'm a Jonin for crying out loud. His evasion from my senses means he is skilled in stealth, the way he avoided me when I looked behind means he obviously has incredible speed and his Chakra control is impressive as he is standing upside down. He must have trained his ass off if he is this good.'

"My first impression of you is that I hate you. Meet me on the roof" with that said and done, he vanished in a puff of smoke. The other two looked up at Naruto only to see him gone, leaving them to wonder how he left unnoticed.

Arriving at the roof of the Academy, they saw their sensei leaning on the fence and their enigma of a teammate leaning on a tree.

"Ok now that we're all here. Let's start with introduction". Sasuke and Sakura seemed confused, the other he couldn't tell due to his mask.

"Umm, sensei. Why don't you go first so we know what to say" Sakura said with a raised hand. Naruto turned towards her with a look that clearly said' are you stupid'. Kakashi on the other hand simply sighed in resignation; this was the Kunoichi of the Year?

"Fine. My name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes are….. My dislikes are…. well, my hobbies… you're too young to know. As for my dream for the future, well that's none of your business." Sakura and Sasuke sweatdroped at the lame introduction, irritated that he had revealed nothing about himself except his name.

"Ok you go first Pinkie." Sakura scowled at her nickname but didn't say anything.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. My likes are…. my hobbies are ….. My dislike is Ino-pig. My dream is to …." All the while she was glancing at Sasuke with and squealed when she mentioned her dream. Sasuke slowly drifted away from the hormonal fangirl while Kakashi simply sweatdrop for getting a fangirl in his team.

"Well, that was… exciting! Now you go Mr. Dark and Gloomy" Kakashi said dryly and pointed towards Sasuke who scowled.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I have no likes and dislike everything. I don't have any hobbies. My dream is not a dream because I'm going to make it a reality, I'm going to kill a certain someone" the aura around him darkened as he muttered his introduction. Sakura looked at him with star twinkling in her eyes and slight dusting of pink on her cheeks while Kakashi only sighed at the brooder's expected introduction. Naruto on the other hand gave him a sideway glance of annoyance.

"Kill Itachi Uchiha? You must be dumber than you look Uchiha. Have you forgotten he annihilated your Clan in a single night and you think you can kill him by yourself? foolish" Sasuke seethed in anger at the insult. The way he acted and carried himself reminded him too much of his murderer brother. He shot up towards the leaning blond with a kunai drawn, only to be kicked in the stomach before he even reached him, sending him back to his place. Sasuke stood up again in absolute rage at the impudent blond for daring to kick an Uchiha. Just as he was about to dash again towards the blond, Kakashi's voice stopped him.

"That's enough Sasuke; you need to control your anger. You can't just draw a kunai against your comrade. And you Naruto, you shouldn't toy with a person's feeling for your own amusement. He is your teammate, you should be trying to get along with each other" Kakashi reprimanded, turning towards each of them with his visible eye narrowed. Sasuke only glared at the masked blond in anger and hatred followed by his loyal fangirl, while Naruto was unaffected.

"That was not for my amusement but rather a simple fact. Do you honestly believe he could kill his brother with that kind of unstable mind? Just his name was enough to make him lose his control. He focuses more of his time trying to perfect his brooding poses rather than to train. Itachi was a once in generation genius who worked for his strength not copying from others like a monkey. A boy becoming an Anbu captain at the tender age of 13 is unheard of yet he was, you should know him better than anyone Kakashi. Though I've to say Sasuke's reaction was quite amusing"

At the end of his sentence, his amusement was clearly shown through his tone. Sasuke by now was shaking in rage and glaring at the blond so hard, he was practically drilling a hole through his masked face, Sakura was glaring at the blond for insulting her 'Sasuke-kun', but couldn't say anything lest she received her share of tongue lashing.

Kakashi winced when Naruto listed one fact after the other about Itachi. The man was indeed a once in a generation genius, the only Uchiha free of the Uchiha's curse of hatred, a perfect example of a Shinobi. The way Sasuke was now, he would never be able to kill Itachi. The blond said something about him knowing Itachi better, obviously pointing towards something. Itachi was his subordinate in the Anbu Black Ops before he became a captain himself. That meant Naruto knew of this fact and only pointed towards it as to not reveal too much info….. Or maybe not, since he couldn't read the blond.

"Alright that's enough. Introduce yourself" Kakashi stated, turned towards the tall blond.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki" the three waited for the blond to move forward yet he remained silent.

"Umm Naruto. What about your likes, dislikes, hobbies and dream?" Kakashi asked with his signature eye smile.

"That would be…." The three leaned forward in anticipation "none of your business" and face faulted.

'Great. I have a fangirl, a brooder, and a hardass. What did I do to deserve this'

"Alright. Now with that out of the way. Meet me at training ground 7 at six in the morning for your real Genin test" The two looked confused while he couldn't tell what the other was feeling because of his damn mask.

"But sensei, didn't we give our exam at the Academy?" Sakura asked uncertainly with confused look on her face. If that was not a real exam, then if she failed, she'd lose her chance with her 'Sasuke-kun'.

"Now, did you really think that was an exam? It was only to rule out the hopeless cases, those who have no chance of surviving in the Ninja world. The real Genin exam is taken by the Jonin in charge of the selected team with a failure rate of 66%, am I wrong Kakashi?" Naruto retorted from his position on the roof.

"No. you're absolutely right Naruto. Good job. Now don't be late, oh and don't eat anything otherwise you'll puke" with that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto turned around and disappeared into thin air without a trace of his presence while the two looked on in awe and disbelief or in Sasuke's case in hatred and jealousy. He required a move like that to kill his brother. A clanless loser had no right to possess such a powerful technique.

Sakura turned towards her crush to ask him for a date only to see him walking away with a visible aura of broodiness around him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Training Ground Seven. Morning

Naruto arrived at the training ground three hours late from the designated time, since he knew the man too well to follow his order of arriving earlier or not eating breakfast. Breakfast is the most important and essential meal of the day and considering their test unspecified nature, skipping it was just idiotic.

He was not surprised to find his idiots of a team standing there almost ready to fall asleep right there. Not wanting to hear the loud banshee scream of his pink haired teammate, he shunpoed(Yes, the one from bleach) to the tallest tree in the training ground and calmly sat down.

He didn't have to wait too long as he sensed his sensei appear in the training ground. His arrival welcomed with a loud howler monkey scream from the pink banshee that made his ears hurt even from this distance. The wannabe avenger only brooded harder with dark frowning look on his face.

"Sorry. I got lost on the road of life" kakashi justified, with his signature eye smile and mentally patted himself for coming up with such a brilliant excuse while the two sweatdropped. Kakashi noticed the absence of his enigma student and asked "where is Naruto?"

"Behind you" Sakura screamed in fright and surprise while Sasuke and Kakashi almost jumped in surprise. They turned around to find the blond Jinchuriki standing in his signature black cloak fluttering in the wind.

'I hate it when he does that' Kakashi thought dryly, wondering how the hell did the blond sneak up on him a second time.

"What the hell is your problem Naruto? You almost gave us a heart attack" Sakura screamed at the quite blond, while trying to calm her frantically beating heart.

"You should always be aware of your surroundings Haruno" Naruto stated in his usual monotone voice.

"Alright now that we're all here, let's start with the rest" Reaching for his pocket, Kakashi produced two bells and held them in front of his Genins " All you have to do is take these bells from me within 4 hours. Whoever fails to get a bell will be tied to that post over there while the two eat their lunch in front of him/her. Get it?"

"But sensei, there are only two bells" Sakura objected

"That would be because only two of you will pass the test while the other is sent back to the Academy" Sakura and Sasuke looked alarmed, not wanting to go back to the Academy, one because he wanted to kill his brother and the other because she'd lose her chance to be with her crush.

Kakashi noted no reaction from Naruto and it was driving him nuts, it was as if the blond was a machine. The only thing amusing about being a Jonin instructor was teasing the young wannabe Ninjas, but Naruto was denying him that satisfaction. Damn that blond.

Two stomachs growled at the thought of food.

'That's why he said not to eat breakfast' Sasuke and Sakura thought while holding their growling stomachs. Kakashi turned towards Naruto with questioning look on his face.

"You 'suggested' that we don't eat breakfast and even if you'd ordered us not to, I would've still ignored you. Skipping breakfast normally is idiotic, but to skip it when you don't even know the details of your mission is just plain suicidal" Naruto said bluntly while Kakashi nodded.

"Exactly" he turned towards his other two students "Never obey stupid orders like that. Now let's begin" he took out an alarm clock from who know where and placed it on a training post "1, 2, 3 Begin" Sasuke and Sakura ran for the trees to find a hiding spot.

Kakashi turned around towards Naruto with a deadpanned look "Naruto, you know you're supposed to hide, right?"

"Why hide when I know exactly what your game is"

"Oh. Care to enlighten me" he said dismissively and reached for his back pouch, pulling out his precious Icha Icha novel and began to read, but still very much wry of the blond. Even as he was standing in front of him, he had trouble sensing his Chakra signature. If he wasn't looking, he would say he didn't exist. He would have to talk with the Hokage about the mysterious blond.

"Teamwork"

Kakashi looked up from his book in surprise. He should've expected that, considering the way he revealed the truth about the actual Genin exam. "How did you figure it out?"

"That would be telling" Kakashi frowned at the rude dismissal.

"Now that you know the truth, what are you going to do?" To be honest, he was interested in the blonds answer.

"Nothing"

"Nothing?" Kakashi blinked in surprise and confusion, his book forgotten "What do you mean nothing? Don't you want to pass?"

"It's not a question of success or failure; it's about the dynamic of our team. You want us to work as a team, sorry to disappoint but that is highly unlikely to happen" Naruto stated with his usual cold and monotone voice.

"Why not?" Kakashi already knew the answer to that question, but he intended to know what the blond felt.

"Do not take me for a fool, **Inu**. You know as well as I do why. Sasuke thinks he is too high and mighty to work with others and Sakura would follow Sasuke like a lost puppy. By my calculation, this team will hardly work for six months, seven at the most" Kakashi was once again startled when the blond mentioned his Anbu Codename. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

'So he does know my identity as an Anbu captain, no wonder he said that I should know Itachi more than anyone' Kakashi regained his composure and gazed at the tall blond.

"Now now Naruto, don't be so hard on them, just give them a chance, I'm sure they'll come around"

"Very well then, follow me and see for yourself" with that he vanished.

Kakashi's eye widened in surprise at the sheer speed of the blond seeing as that was not a shunshin Jutsu, but rather pure speed gained from years of training. How the hell did he become that fast when he was only an Academy graduate? He really needed to talk with the Hokage about his enigma of a student.

He carefully stood on tree branch and gazed at the interaction between Naruto and Sakura only to be disappointed when Sakura turned Naruto's offer down and went to search for 'her Sasuke-kun'. He however, wasn't surprised when the tall blond looked towards his position on the tree as if saying 'I told you so'. The blond vanished once again and Kakashi followed. He reached just in time to see Sasuke reject Naruto's offer of teamwork with his usual arrogance.

"Convinced yet?" Kakashi almost let out a scream, a manly one of course when the blond appeared behind him.

"Seriously Naruto, Can you stop doing that?" Seeing no reaction or response from the tall blond, he sighed "Yeah. I've no choice but to pass the team because of you know who?"

He didn't have to clarify as the blond already knew who he was talking about. The Civilian Council and The Elders of the villagers treated the arrogant Uchiha as a prince, stroking his already impressive ego to the size of the Hokage Monument. The Uchiha acted as though he deserved all that and more, as if he was a kami on earth. The mere sight of the arrogant fool disgusted him.

"Well, if you're going to pass the team no matter what, then I guess I've no business here. Farewell" before Kakashi could react, Naruto vanished into thin air.

Kakashi sighed and turned around to deal with his other students. He just hoped what the blond had said didn't turn out to be true.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

One Month Later

"Pinkie here, target sighted, I'm in position. Why did we have to let Naruto choose the names again? over" came a unpleasantly loud voice through the walkie-talkie.

"…. Dark princess here, I'm ready. I hate you Naruto, over" an angry voice came through the link.

"Inferno here, I'm in position. I think the names suits you considering your usual temperaments, over"

"Cyclops here, good. Now on my mark, 1, 2, 3" he stopped for a dramatic effect "GO". Two blurs dashed from the bushes and pounced on the target, completely retraining it.

"Target captured. All the similarities match the report. Tora cat in custody. Naruto, what the hell are you standing there for? Help us out" Sakura said in her usual bitchy tone.

"If you can't even restrain a cat, then you should consider dropping from the Ninja program completely" Naruto said, blissfully ignoring her sputtering and incoherent insults.

It has been a month since the graduation exam and life has been the same as before. He knew about the villages' rule regarding the completion of an appropriate number of D rank missions to move higher in mission rank. He was receiving paycheck for nothing as he and Kakashi did nothing but watched or in Kakashi's case, read his book. And if the other two insisted, he would simply create a clone to do the chores for him, rendering Sasuke glaring in jealousy and anger for not knowing such a handy Jutsu. So it was win and win for him either way.

Today their mission was to capture the Devil incarnate, Tora, the Fire Lord wife's cat. The cat was held by Sasuke at arm's length as he had scratches on his frowning face, no doubt a master piece of the cat. They reached the Hokage tower in relative silence or as much silence as can be if Sakura was your teammate. Seriously, did she ever stop talking? Of course not, that would be the end of the world.

Reaching the Hokage office, they were given permission to enter. The Hokage was calmly smoking from his pipe as the team entered, however Naruto knew better, he had obviously been reading his Novel while forcing a clone to do the paperwork for him.

"Ah, Congratulations on fulfilling the mission. Good to see you again Naruto" Sakura and Sasuke were surprised to hear the Hokage speak to Naruto so casually, wondering what kind of relation the blond had with the Hokage.

"As am I, Lord Hokage". The smiling visage of the Hokage became a little strained as Naruto addressed him so formerly, but he hid it well. His relation with the blond had eroded with time. The tall Jinchriki no longer visited him, no longer spoke with him casually, he had hardly seen the boy during the three years and he knew it was his fault for if he had not been weak, the blond would still be calling him 'old man' instead of 'Lord Hokage'.

"Now, we have several D rank missions you can take. Walking the Inuzuka dogs, cleaning the kennels or p…" The Hokage was interrupted by a loud shout of refusal from Sasuke.

"No. I refuse to do these chores anymore. I want a mission befitting of my status as an Uchiha elite"

The Hokage turned towards Kakashi with a questioning look on his face and received a nod. He smiled knowingly "Very well. Please come in Mr. Tazuna".

The three Genins and one Jonin turned towards the door just as it opened to reveal a glasses wearing man in his fifties with a sake bottle in his hand. The man was wearing a brown sleeveless dress shirt with dirty yellow pants and a towel draped over his shoulders. From the looks of it, he obviously was drunk.

"What? These children are supposed to protect me. A pink banshee, a brooder, a towering spooky guy and a Cyclops?" Tazuna questioned in a slurred but mocking tone. Sasuke and Sakura glared at the man for insulting them while Naruto didn't even spared him a glance.

"Don't worry ; I'm a Jonin, more than capable of protecting you" Kakashi declared in firm tone.

"Fine then. I'm a master bridge builder from the Land of Waves and expect you to protect me with your lives" with that done, he turned around and left. Kakashi looked towards his Genins

"Alright, meet me at the gate tomorrow at 8. Be prepared for a week mission. Dismissed"

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Boy, writing a story sure is hard. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if there are any grammatical or spelling mistakes, please inform me. Constructive criticism will be appreciated as well as suggestion regarding the story. Hope you enjoyed it.


	4. Chapter 4: To The Land Of Waves

**Chapter 4= To The Land Of Waves**

 **Disclaimer= I don't own Naruto or Techniques from any other anime etc.**

 **Sorry the update took so long, I didn't have time. I wrote this chapter in an hour time, so expect some mistakes along the way and kindly inform me.**

 **Now answers to a few reviews**

 **Anarion87: Thanks. Keep up the good work and inform me if there are any mistakes in this chapter**

 **Noahendless: that's something I don't like about the cannon as well. Cannon Naruto doesn't have the slightest clue of how a shinobi should act and behave.**

 **Kmd2davis: Don't worry. There will be no tails and fox ears involved as I hate that particular tidbit myself. I can't count the number of fics I've stopped reading just because of that. What I've planned for Naruto is something I'm sure you would love.**

 **Novrier: First of all, I would like to thank you for your honest opinion regarding my fic. Its readers like you that I look forward to reading their reviews because they don't just sprout non sense out of the blue. Now I'll explain one by one.**

 **I admit being mistaken on the issue regarding Gai's team as they would be far older than that of the rest, but I also have a reason for that. That reason is that Cannon Rock lee shows far superior skills in Taijustu than even most Jonin, so that means he had trained for a long time.**

 **As for your suggestion regarding Gai's Chakra usage, that's a little bit invalid as he can't use Chakra in Taijutsu otherwise his blows would be comparable to that of Tsunade's punches and he can't use or utilize Ninjutsu just the same.**

 **The Sword is Fire based and Naruto is also Fire manipulator, so they will complement each other perfectly.**

 **Now as you said that he knows way too much, I'm afraid that is something I can't change. He Will know a lot of things. The knowledge of seals is something he had been studying since he was 7, so he will know it, but he won't be a master of it till the Shippuden Arc. The control over Fire is what he trained for three years straight to achieve and since it's an ability given to him by the fox. He will be slowly getting powerful, not too slow and not too fast. Have you seen any battle in this fic where he had defeated a Jonin by punching him through a wall, of course not. He uses deception and mind games without giving too much info regarding his abilities.**

 **Hope that answers your questions. Now something had come to my attention. You guys don't review much. When I said it wasn't necessary, I didn't meant it to be completely useless. I was saying that if you enjoyed my fic, at least say so, so I can update more often and with more vigor.**

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 **Next Morning, Front Gate**

Naruto arrived at the front gate in unhurried stride the next morning two hours late from the designated time as he knew Kakashi would do the same no matter what, so why bother?. The sight that greeted him was both humorous and irritating, both his teammates and the drunken bridge builder had arrived on time without even thinking about Kakashi's tardiness. He could certainly excuse the bridge builder as he didn't know Kakashi that much, but Sasuke and Sakura should have learned by now that he wasn't about show up early.

Sasuke and Sakura had backpacks filled to the brim with things he didn't want to know about, especially Sakura's, honestly it was way more convenient to store everything in a storage scroll. He walked up to them and inclined his head as a greeting, and got the signature 'hn' from Sasuke , Tazuna just grunted in response, no doubt frustrated about waiting for the perverted Jonin. Sakura on the other hand was more vocal about her 'greeting'.

"Where the hell were you? We have been standing here for the past three hours for you and that pervy sensei of ours". Several tick marks grew on her forehead when Naruto blissfully ignored her and leaned against the gate. She was about to scream at him for daring to ignore her when he suddenly spoke up.

"Kakashi, for how long do you intend to stand there?" the two Genins plus the client looked around for the cyclopean Jonin, but found no sight of him anywhere. Kakashi took that moment to jump down from his position on the tree and land in front of the Genins without making a sound.

"Yo" Kakashi greeted pleasantly with his signature eye smile, but winced when Sakura retorted with her usual 'You're late' shriek. Blissfully ignoring her, he turned towards the tallest person of the group and eyed him with barely veiled interest and curiosity.

"How did you know I was there?"

"I can smell you" Naruto answered curtly, not wanting to give any information about his abilities. Sasuke and Sakura blinked in surprise not having expected that kind of answer while Kakashi frowned.

He had talked with the Hokage after giving the test and passing the team, however when he had mentioned the blond's name, the Sandaime's face had showed a variation of emotion he had not expected. The Hokage had an expression reminiscent that of guilt and sorrow. He had been disturbingly surprised because he knew the relation between the Hokage and the tall blond was that of a grandfather and his grandson.

He couldn't count the number of times he had come to the Hokage office to give his report, only to find the aging professor read stories for the blond while he listened in dazed fascination. He was the assigned bodyguard of the Third so he knew the number of times the Hokage would take the blond out for ramen or simply for the blond to stay with the Sandaime and help him with his paperwork.

For the old man to show such emotion implied something else, something must have taken place between the two. It seemed even the Hokage didn't know the full extent of the blond Jinchuriki's talent. So far he had only shown amazing speed, incredible stealth and monstrous Taijutsu, while he could certainly understand his prowess in Taijutsu and his speed as the Hokage had informed him of the blond two year training with his insane 'Eternal rival', anyone who had trained with that lunatic was destined to be a monster in Taijutsu, he was more amazed and intrigued about his evasion from his battle hardened senses.

He was perversely stunned when he perceived the emergence of a tiny almost imperceptible smile on the exotic red eyed Jonin's lips. Apparently his Genin was a major player if he'd melted the Ice Queen of Konoha, he was going to the bottom of that particular tidbit, for the 'good' of Konoha of course, not to quench his thirst for perverted goodness. Nope not at all.

"Ok, now that everyone is here" He looked at Sasuke pointedly whose eye twitched in frustration "Let's move" With that done, Naruto took the front with Sasuke and Sakura taking the left and right respectively while Kakashi slowly took the back with his head buried in his perverted novel.

They group started walking through the carved path towards the Land of Waves in a relative silence, well the rest were quiet while Sakura excitedly fired questions one after the other at Tazuna.

"So Mr., Tazuna, what is Wave like?"

"Well, Wave used to be the center point of trade through the nations, but now its but a mere shell of its former glory" Tazuna looked visibly uncomfortable with direction of the topic, as noted from his curt and short answers.

Sakura looked back towards the book reading Jonin "Kakashi sensei, I was wondering.. Doesn't Wave have any Ninja's?"

"No" Naruto tuned out Kakashi as he started explaining the Five Great Nations and their means of protection. He was slightly peeved by their nonchalant attitude towards the significance and the danger of the mission; they could be attacked any second. If Kakashi really wanted to teach them History, he should have done it in the village. Going to a hostile country without any info about their weakness and strength was totally idiotic. He on the other hand had taken the liberty of researching the Land of Waves and its surroundings thoroughly.

Several hours later, the team plus the client came up on puddle of water in the middle of the road on their way towards Wave. Naruto noticed the puddle and looked towards the cyclopean Jonin, to confirm his suspicion and got a nod in return. He walked past it without a care, knowing the element of surprise was over for the pathetically hidden enemy. A few seconds later, he heard a gasp and turned around just in time to see Kakashi replace himself with a log.

The Shinobi were two in number with scratched Mist headbands with strange horns like protrusions and black masks reaching up to their noses. The two wore matching black outfits with gauntlets connected to the other by see saw chain.

"One down.." one of the horned Ninja said, his voice distorted due the presence of the mask " and three to go" with that the two dashed towards the group.

Sakura was frozen in fear and horror either from seeing their sensei torn to pieces by the chains or from their killing intent, Naruto didn't care either way.

Sasuke snapped into action and charged at the dashing Chunins with his Kunai drawn. He dodged the first and hurled a valley of Shuriken at the connected chain, impaling the chain to the tree and kicked both the brothers in the face. The brothers grunted in pain and glared at the runt for daring to attack them. Both looked at each other, silently strategizing their next course of action and nodded. Sasuke was instantly on the defensive as he saw the brother use brain instead of brawn, dodging one kick and punch after the other. Spit flew out his mouth as a particularly hard punch to the stomach hurled him back towards the group.

Panting in exhaustion and anger, he turned towards Naruto only to see him sucker punch one of the brothers, due to the momentum of the kicked brother, hurling them both towards a tree. One of them sprawled unconscious and the other slowly got to his feet, only to scream in pain when a searing and absolutely agonizing pain ripped through his stomach. He looked down at his impaled stomach and saw a terrifying sight.

A raging blade made entirely of crimson flames except the handle was lodged in his stomach, looking at the black masked boy, he knew he was dead the moment the blade impaled him. He didn't even sense the cloaked boy up until now. To have stealth capabilities great enough to fool two seasoned Chunins was not an ordinary task. It seemed Zabuza had his work cut out for him.

Naruto looked impassively as the flames from the blade covered the entirety of the Mist-nin, ignoring his scream of horror and pain as he was reduced to ashes. His team plus the client flinched upon hearing the pleas of the burning Ninja and the terrifying visage of their giant teammate with his hands covered in blood, black cloak wavering in the wind and the raging sword of flames.

"Naruto, you didn't have to kill him, you know" came the stern voice of the apparently alive Kakashi, as he witnessed the merciless action of his blond Genin. Kakashi gave his signature eye smile when Sakura bellowed that he wasn't dead in relief

"I killed one of them. You don't need two for the interrogation" Naruto said coldly in his usual monotone voice. He failed to see any consequences of his action, considering he did what was needed of him. Kakashi just sighed in resignation.

"I guess you have a point. What is with that sword? How did it ignite flames? I have never heard of a sword with that kind of ability" Kakashi questioned in open curiosity as he had seen the destructive nature of the sword. The sword was not just an ordinary sword as it had reduced the Mist-nin to ashes. More importantly, how did he get the sword? So many questions and no answers.

"Kakashi, I presume you know that I work as a forger in my spare time?" Seeing Kakashi nod in confirmation, he continued "then you should know that I made the sword myself. It's quite ordinary except the seals I've drawn upon them. You see the seals on the sword have the unique ability to turn the Chakra of the victim against them. The moment the sword is impaled into a victim, the seals slowly converts the Chakra of the victim into fire, thus destroying his Chakra Pathways and ultimately reducing his body to ashes from the inside out".

That was enough bull shit to fertilize half of Fire country, but they didn't need to know that now did they? While the invention of that kind of seal was not entirely impossible, it was still out of his grasp, for he was not that adapt at the Art. Yet.

Kakashi detected a slight hint of glee in his strange students tone, no doubt enjoying the gawking looks of his teammates and the client. He however was still uncertain and skeptical about the sword, while he had no uncertainties about the Uzumaki Clan's greatness in the Sealing Arts; it was nevertheless beyond Naruto's comprehension to create something like that, considering he was still a Genin, a powerful one but a Genin nonetheless.

What was even more mysterious was the fact that the sword had vanished as quickly as it had appeared with a puff of smoke, giving them no time to see its actual appearance.

Sasuke was seething in barely concealed jealousy. To think the clanless loser had the power to send two Chunins flying with a hard punch and possess knowledge of the Sealing Art so great that he converted his sword into a perfect tool of destruction just by drawing a few squiggles on it! He should have that kind of weapon; he should have that kind of Sealing Art prowess in order to kill his brother.

Sakura on the other hand was absolutely terrified of the blond as he mercilessly burned the Mist-nin to a crisp with no remorse whatsoever. She had always been afraid of the tall blond as he exuded an aura of death. No matter how hard she had tried to overcome her fears of the blond, she couldn't. The black high collared cloak, the black face mask with no eye holes scared the living day lights out of her every time.

Kakashi took a hold of the unconscious Mist-nin and dragged him to the bushes, no wanting to have his innocent Genins witness an interrogation. A few minutes later, he emerged from the bushes and turned towards Tazuna with his visible eye narrowed.

"I believe you have something to tell us Mr. Tazuna" Tazuna started sweating nervously and fidgeted with his sake bottle.

"W-w-what are you talking about?" he asked in a nervous stutter.

"Something regarding the Chunins targeting you" Kakashi pressed probingly.

Tazuna sighed in resignation, realizing there was no other way then to come clean and spill the beans "Ok. Wave was a trading center long ago until that son of a bitch Gato came. He bought all the business ports and other major points of trade of our country. We didn't oppose because he portrait himself as a simple businessman looking for potential profitable investment. Slowly but surely, he took control of the island and revealed his true color. Since our country is an island and all the ports were bought by that slim ball, we had no choice but to create a bridge to the main land lest we starve to death." Tazuna finished his story with a few tears in the end for extra effect.

"Gato? Gato of the shipping Company?" Kakashi asked in surprise.

"Yes, the very same. While he appears to be doing normal business, in reality he is the master mind behind black marketing, slavery and other scandalous crimes throughout the Elemental Nations" Tazuna said in disgust "but it's okay, if you don't help me. I will die and my daughter and innocent grandson will have to fend for themselves"

"Then you should've so said at the first place. Why put my students at risk?"

"Because Wave can't afford anything above the payment of a C rank mission" Tazuna said in defeat, letting a few tears drop down his face.

The team, minus Naruto sweat dropped at the sobbing old coot. Sighing in resignation, Kakashi turned towards his Genins, as it was to be their decision whether they wanted to continue or not.

"So, what do you three think? The mission is no longer a simple C rank, but an A rank. It's up to you if you want to continue or return back to the village"

Sasuke was unquestionably in as he had an unwavering expression on his face. No way was he going to let the blond loser secure all the attention and glory. He was going, no matter what.

Sakura looked noticeably panicky as the assignment changed from C to A rank so unexpectedly, but if she said no, then her 'Sasuke-kun' would be disappointed in her. If she said yes, then she was doomed.

"I say we carry on with the mission. But if you three lack the resolve to continue, I will carry it out myself" Naruto said dully, as he gazed at Kakashi with his eyes narrowed, challenging him to refuse, not that they could see his eyes anyway.

"Naruto, you can't just continue with a mission without your colleagues' approval" Kakashi said in a rigid tone with his visible eye narrowed at the blond. If that was his method way of intimidating the giant blond, then he was sadly mistaken.

"What would the Leaf look like in the eyes of the other villages if we were to overlook a simple A rank mission, not to mention our image towards that of our clients" he was going no matter what they said. He was Naruto Uzumaki dammit

"I hate to say it, but the loser is right" Sasuke stated with an arrogant smirk on his face.

"I-I agree with Sasuke-kun" Sakura said meekly, still not quite sure of herself.

Naruto gazed at Kakashi who was rubbing his temple in frustration. Kakashi just knew that this situation was going to bite them in the ass, or rather bite him in the ass. The next opponent was most likely going to be Zabuza Momochi seeing as the Demon Brothers were his subordinates, but he had no other choice. As they say 'majority is authority'

Tazuna looked up at the three Genins in gratitude and mumbled 'Thank you' repeatedly.

"I guess we're continuing the mission"

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Land of Waves

The group stepped out of the boat owned by a friend of Tazuna, into the land. Dismissing and thanking the boat owner, the group continued their stride towards Tazuna's house. The mist was obscuring most of the things from their vision. Even when Tazuna informed them of the regularity of the mist appearance, Naruto still couldn't shake off the thought of someone watching them.

Sensing something behind a bush, Naruto instantly took out a kunai and hurled it at the bush, startling his teammates and the client. He cautiously took step after step in the direction of the bush, only to see a white furred rabbit barely saved from his kunai.

"Naruto, what the hell is your problem? You almost gave us a heart attack" Sakura shrieked in anger while trying to calm her frantically beating heart. Kakashi and Naruto had other thoughts running through their heads.

'Rabbits don't have white coats at this time of the year. So that means it was raised indoors, that means its purpose is …' Smelling the scent of carbon and blood, he calmly turned towards his teammates.

"You might want to duck" Kakashi's eye widened in surprise and quickly tackled his two Genins and the client to the ground to avoid their heads being separated from their bodies by a long sword.

The sword went spinning over their heads and lodged itself in a tree, just as it stuck the tree, a shirtless black haired man with camouflage pants appeared on the hilt of the sword, facing the other way, with his back turned towards them. He slowly turned around for dramatic effect only to see a kunai racing towards him at frightening speed.

"Holy shit" Zabuza cursed as he avoided the kunai and jumped to the ground "What the hell is wrong with you, Blondie? I was just about to say the witty one liner when you rudely interrupted me, don't you have any manners at all" The group minus the blond Jinchuriki sweatdropped at the indignant attacker.

"Never show your back to an enemy" Naruto retorted coldly as he slowly retracted his outstretched arm, signifying he was the one who had thrown the kunai

"Zabuza Momochi, also known as the Demon of the Mist. A rank missing Nin from the Hidden Mist." Kakashi said in a knowing tone, as he had already expected him to show up after the failure of his lackeys.

"Kakashi of the Sharingan, I'm honored" Zabuza stated mockingly, with a small mock bow "Now that that is out of the way, kindly hand over the old man or we'll have problems". Sasuke looked at Kakashi in surprise, wondering how a non-Uchiha had the Sharingan, while Sakura looked confused, not having heard the name before.

"Sharingan! What's that?" Sakura questioned in confusion, turning towards her crush in hopes of receiving answers from her 'Sasuke-kun'. Sasuke took that as an opportunity to boost about the greatness of his clan's Dojustu.

"The Sharingan is the most powerful of all the known Dojutsu's as it has the ability to..."

"Stop your History lessons. This is neither the time nor the place for you to stroke your mountain size ego to inconceivable heights. And sorry to burst your arrogant bubble, but Sharingan is not the most powerful Dojutsu. That honor belongs to the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths, Rinnegan". Sasuke glared at the tall blond for rudely interrupting his monologue and degrading the greatness of his clan's Dojutsu while Sakura frowned at him for insulting her 'Sasuke-kun'.

"We already have problems as we are not handing over the bridge builder" Kakashi said far too cheerily for Zabuza's taste

"Fine, have it your way then" He slowly raised one arm above his head and the other up to his chest and muttered " **Hiding in Mist Jutsu** "

Kakashi reached for his hidden eye to reveal a crimson eye with three commas swirling lazily around the pupil.

Just as the name was uttered, a thick blanket of fog was formed, slowly obscuring everything from sight. Kakashi cursed, knowing the Sharingan was practically useless in this fight. He twirled around to his Genins "Gather in formation C and protect the bridge builder".

The Genins did as they were ordered and surrounded the bridge builder with their Kunais' drawn "Don't let your guard down as Zabuza is a master of the silent killing". Sakura visibly gulped in fright, now regretting her decision of ever agreeing to the continuation of the mission.

Killing intent the likes of which they had never experienced before rained down upon them, making it harder for them to even breathe. Sakura and Tazuna were visibly shaking in terror while Sasuke was fairing no better, but still better than the other two as he had endured the killing intent of Itachi during the massacre of his Clan.

Naruto on the other hand had no problem seeing as he had experienced the breath stopping and absolutely terrifying killing intent of the Nine tails during his many visits to his mindscape. The Ki Zabuza was showcasing was nothing but a mere drop compare to the ocean that was the Kyuubi's killing intent.

"Hoho, it seemed the rude bastard is not affected by my Ki, impressive" Came the voice of Zabuza from all directions at once "Now then, where should I strike first?"

Naruto was impassively looking around to pinpoint the location of the eyebrow less freak, but was having no such luck. They didn't call him a master of the Silent Killing for nothing after all. It seemed he would have to rely on his other senses to find the Mist-nin, fortunately for him; his senses were already beyond that of a Human.

Channeling Chakra into his ears and nose to enhance them further, he closed his eyes and reached out with his senses. His eyes snapped open, suddenly turning around to stabbed Zabuza just as he was about to cleave Tazuna in half. The Zabuza he had stabbed suddenly turned into water and splash down to the ground "That was a lucky shot, brat. Next you won't be so lucky"

"You're right" Zabuza hastily tried to turn around only to grunt in pain as a kunai stabbed his heart, seeing Kakashi with his Sharingan spinning around hypnotically.

Kakashi was immediately alarmed when Zabuza smirked and turned into water, looking around frantically to catch a glimpse of the Mist-nine. He spun around as he heard a dark chuckle from behind him and his eyes widened in disbelief when he was sliced in half. Zabuza's arrogant smirk instantly vanished as the sliced Kakashi turned into and felt a cold metal pressed against his throat.

"Impressive, you were able to copy the **Water Clone Jutsu** even through the mist" Zabuza let out a dark chuckle as he praised the Copycat Ninja "but I'm not that easy to die"

With that said, the apparently clone turned into water. Kakashi hastily spun around just in time to bring his arms in a cross shape in front of his chest to reduce the impact of the kick, but was still sent flying into the lake nearby. He immediately tried to get out of the water, when he felt something odd about the water.

Realization struck him, knowing exactly why the water felt denser; he tried to get out but was restrained as Zabuza appeared above him with his hand in the ram seal "Too late. **Water Prison Jutsu** "

The dense water body surrounded him like a balloon, try as he might, he couldn't get out "You three, take and go. You can't defeat him" Kakashi shouted in alarm from his water prison, hoping the Genins would heed his warning and flee.

"Kakashi, are you high or something? If we run, he will kill you and come after us regardless of our speed" Naruto said dryly, as if scolding a mere child. He couldn't believe someone like Kakashi would suggest something of that idiotic nature. Kakashi couldn't help but sweatdrop at the smartass comeback from the tall bastard.

"When you put it like that, I guess you've a point" Kakashi said defeatedly, hoping they would at least free him if nothing else, having witnessed the blonds speed, he had no doubt that he would be freed.

"You sure are amusing, Blondie. Neither of you have the slightest idea of how Shinobis should be. When I was your age, I'd already slaughtered various adversaries with my hands" Kakashi gazed up at Zabuza in surprise and barely concealed disgust.

"Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist. Long ago, the Mist village was known as the Bloody Mist village…." He was rudely interrupted by his blond student, who was giving him a deadpan look.

"Kakashi, do you honestly believe this is the time to give History lessons considering your current predicament. You should be more worried about finding a way to get out, rather than stroking that old man's ego"

'Sometimes I hate you, Naruto' Kakashi lamented mentally with anime tears streaming down his face, muttering something about 'know-it-all' blonds and 'disrespectful students'

"Who are you calling old, you brat" Zabuza screamed as several tick marks grew on his forehead.

"Apparently you're quite sensitive about your age. But let me assure you that everyone is getting old, so you have no reason to feel left out" Naruto said plainly, while internally snickering at the eyebrow less Nin. He was slowly sowing the seeds of hatred and anger in the Nin's mind to make him take irrational action.

"I AM ONLY 29 DAMMIT" Zabuza roared at the impertinent blond, while the tick marks on his temple gradually swelled in numbers and more pronounced. Ignoring the fuming Mist-nin with a wave of his hand, Naruto turned around just to mess with him and discreetly placed his hands on the ground in a sitting position.

Zabuza saw red as he looked at the insane blond turning his back to him and siting on the ground, as if he was no threat at all; well he would show him by slicing him in half. Roaring a war cry, he released the cyclopean Jonin and dashed forward intent on slicing the insolent blond in the middle, not seeing the smirk on the masked blonds face, not that anyone could see it due to his inexpressive black face mask.

Just as he reached the siting blond and swung his sword to leave the blond a bloody mess on the ground, the blond vanished and the earth surface beneath his feet began glowing as he suddenly felt a undeniably strong force pushing him towards the ground, feeling as though he was carrying a mountain on his shoulders.

"What the hell did you do? you insolent brat" he roared, seeing the tall blond appear a few feet away from him as he struggled to free himself from whatever trap the blond had laid. From the looks of it, it was some kind of seal, which must mean the huge blond was adapt in Seals.

"It's not what I did, it's what you did. I laid out a role for you and you played that role admirably. Your part was to attack me without thinking. I have no interest in your age, life or family. My only goal for mentioning your age was to provoke you enough to take irrational action, without thinking of its consequences. You didn't take into account that you had Kakashi trapped in your Water Prison and thus sealed your faith"

Zabuza's eyes widened as he took into account the facts laid out by the calculative blond, he was so angry that he forget about Kakashi entirely. Looking at the unmoving blond, he knew one day he would reach to heights unimaginable.

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The group had once again started walking towards Tazuna's house. A grumbling Sakura and a fuming Sasuke could be seen carrying an unconscious Kakashi while Naruto could be seen walking leisurely behind the group deep in thought. The battle had soon become one sided as soon as Kakashi had been freed. Zabuza had his ass handed to him on a silver platter by a fuming Kakashi, only to be saved by a Hunter-nin.

That's the exact reason why he was so deep in thoughts. If his knowledge regarding Hinter-nins was correct, then that one was obviously a fake. The reason behind his suspicion was that the Hunter-nin took the body with him instead of just the head and used Senbons to put the body in death like state momentarily. Whenever a Missing-nin is captured by Hunter-nins, they cut the head as a proof of their mission success and ignite the headless body in flames to prevent any secrets being leaked out to enemy village. The fact that the Hunter-nin took the body with him led him to the only conclusion that he was a fake one and that Zabuza was not dead.

Kakashi had apparently overused his Sharingan and had passed out after the battle, leaving the team the responsibility of his body's safety. He had left that particular aspect to the two members as they had done nothing but shake in fear while watching the battle helplessly. When they had asked why he was not carrying the body, his response was because he was Uzumaki Naruto, that's why.

They reached a small house built near the edge of a river and knocked on the door. A moment later, a woman in her early thirties with light pink blouse and blue skirt opened the door. As soon as her eyes located the familiar sake drinking old man, she jumped and fiercely hugged the man.

"Father, you're back. I was so worried" The woman exclaimed in a obviously relief tone, glad to see her father again safe and sound while the drunk bridge builder laughed loudly and gladly returned the warm hug.

"I'm fine, Tsunami thanks to these Ninja I hired" Gesturing behind him, The now named Tsunami saw two children carrying an unconscious man while a tall masked blond man was standing motionlessly.

THUNK

"What the hell is the matter with you? An injured man is with you and all you can do is drink sake and laugh, have you no shame?" Tsunami shouted and continuously bonked her father with a frying pan that she got from who knows where while the rest of the team sweatdropped, except Naruto.

"I know who wears the pants in your family, Mr. Tazuna" Naruto commented dryly with a bit of humor as tick marks grew on Tazuna's temple.

"Hurry, take him upstairs. He needs his rest" She was interrupted by the tall cloaked man.

"Kakashi, if you don't stop feigning to be unconscious right this instant, I guarantee I will hurl you out into the river" Hearing the blonds open threat, Kakashi smiled sheepishly and opened his eye slowly only to receive a frying pan to the head rendering him unconscious for real. The group followed the trajectory of the frying pan in reverse to find that indeed it was Tsunami who had beaten the living daylights out of the perverted Jonin. Noticing the incredulous expression of the team and the deadpan look of her father directed towards her, she asked 'nicely'.

"What?" Tsunami snapped at the group "He had the nerve to pretend he was unconscious while in reality he was enjoying being carried by those poor kids. When he wakes up, he better have a great explanation or he is going to take more than just a frying pan to the head " by the end of her little rant, she was cackling manically, rubbing her hands like an evil scientist , no doubt coming up with ways to torture the cyclopean Jonin.

"I think I like her" Naruto commented after a moment of silence, seeing her brutally viscous blow and twisted logic. Anyone who can torture the perverted Jonin was a plus in his book. His comment got him a beaming smile from the aforementioned 'torturer'.

He couldn't help but return the smile albeit a tiny one, not that she could see it.

This was going to be an interesting mission for sure.

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Hope you enjoyed it.

Next update will be after I post another story. It will be Naruto xover bleach. I think you will enjoy it. This by no mean implies that I will abandon this story; no. both will be updated one chapter at a time.


	5. Chapter 5: Lingering Memories

Chapter 5= Lingering Memories

 **Answers to few reviews**

 **Truefeeling: I myself am leaning towards that side as you have been given a miniature hint concerning Naruto and Kurenai's potential relationship.**

 **bankai777: not quite sure about that one, and even if he did, it would not be until the Shipuuden Arc. It's not because I can't incorporate it into the plot but rather it would make Naruto overpowered too early.**

 **Anarion87: Thank you for the compliment and informing me of the one mistake. It's been corrected.**

 **Novrier: I believe I wasn't clear enough when I said that he was going to be powerful. The reason why he is stronger than his peers is because he'd been training his ass for five years, not to mention the early education given to him by the Third Hokage. If he can't get strong in that amount of time, then it's quite disappointing don't you think? He is going to make mistakes but in later chapters like against Orochimaru etc., he is perfect because I want him to be perfect. That's the reason why fans read fic, to satisfy their desire and wishes that have not been fulfilled by the cannon, it's one of the reasons why I started to write my own. As for him sensing Kakashi and others while others can't? Didn't I already explain that he has ENHANCED SENSES? That should be more than enough to clear anything. The reason why he couldn't be sensed is something you'll learn in this chapter**

 **As for him taunting Zabuza into attacking him, that's something he will be doing to everyone. He will be like Aizen from Bleach in personality, Polite, quite, strong and perceptive. You said that he can't be provoked just because he is an experienced assassin? Mind games and psychological warfare doesn't need experience to counter, it's a simple matter of keeping a calm mind. Have you seen the fight between Deidara and Sasuke? If you have, then you may have seen that Sasuke provoked Deidara just by looking at him and asking about Itachi. Sasuke I believe is one year older than Naruto in the cannon, yet he was able to provoke Deidara, an S rank assassin. Are you kidding me? Like I said he is going to mess with his opponents heads more often than not for his own amusement.**

 **And you said that you find the cannon version more interesting than my fic. Sorry to say this but you have some poor taste in watching anime. While I admit that my fic is not good, but to compare it to the cannon version, that's a low blow. You like a loudmouth orange wearing idiot more than my Naruto, that's both amusing and surprising to say the least, but as they say opinions differs.**

 **And showcasing your honest opinion is not negativity. I like it when my readers show interest in my fics. So just because you said your piece regarding the story doesn't mean I'm going to be offended by it. I'm not the kind of guy who is offended by mere words alone.**

 **Wyrtha: Thanks. Yes he will know a lot more. As for collaboration Jutsu, I believe there isn't a battle complicated enough for Naruto to use that kind of destructive power as I like my Naruto to show as little info about his abilities as possible. Regarding the summons, I'm trying to come up with something unique, something to compliment his Fire based nature and be destructive as well. The Dragons, Phoenix and Salamanders are used too much; phoenix not as much but still used a lot. Any ideas?**

 **Question of the Day (** **How can a man go eight days without sleep?). Cookie for the one who answers correctly**

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It was a delightful evening, the silvery moon blooming ethereally over the island nation and the precise reason why one Naruto Uzumaki was lying on the roof of the house. They had been here for two days now and things has been pretty much the same, assist and protect Tazuna while he works at the bridge and leave one of the team members to guard the house and the family. That was the unchanging routine of the team, not his.

His routine was to secure the house until the arrival of the team and then disappear to train outside with his clones. He would give 80% of his Chakra to a clone and order him to go far away from settlements and create more clones to train until they were dispelled, while he himself would handle the physical training until exhaustion.

While he had played with Zabuza's feelings and drove him to take reckless action, it still brought home the inevitable point that he still needed to improve. If he faced the Mist-nin again, he was sure the man would not be played again as he had seen what he truly wanted. In simple Hand-to-Hand combat, he may have been able to fight for some time as he had trained and spared with the likes of Gai and Lee, but he would've eventually lost due to lack of real life and death situation experience.

Kakashi hadn't recovered from his condition, but he had made a little improvement, he could walk using crutches. He had better get healthy again and train the other two, or they were as good as dead. If he couldn't beat the Jonin, there was no chance in hell they would be able to beat him.

"You realize it's discourteous to spy on people"

Kakashi slowly materialized from the trees with his crutches, knowing he was discovered. How he got to the roof with those things is a whole new story.

"Sorry, Naruto. I was just curious" Kakashi said with a sheepish smile on his masked face.

"No need for apologies, its unpretentious human nature to be curious, but do try to inquire instead of skulking around" Naruto retorted with an even tone, while Kakashi looked even more sheepish, rubbing the back of head.

"Sorry. Wait! You mean you would answer anyone of my questions?" The surprise on his face was unmistakably amusing, no doubt surprised by the sudden change in attitude. The blond was too shrewd and mysterious for his own good, always in control, always hiding something from others. What had brought the change, he didn't know but he was without a doubt proud of what his Sensei's son had become.

"Depends. If I find the questions to be too personal, then I'm afraid it will have to go unanswered"

"Ok then. Why is that I can't sense your presence even though you are sitting right there? Even if you were to suppress it, it would still be sensible to a Jonin" that was his first and most important question. He had tried so hard to at least sense a flicker of his presence, yet he had always been disappointed with results. It was as if the blond didn't exist.

"A little too close for comfort but within the limits, provided that you keep what you hear a secret" the threat was undeniably evident. Keep your mouth shut and we won't have any problems. Got it. Kakashi nodded in agreement and sweatdropped.

"Ever since I started my training with the Sandaime, I have learned that there are certain individuals capable of sensing the presence of others through naturally acquired ability, as you know these individuals are called Chakra Sensors. I surmised the immense advantage such an ability would provide the bearer in combat. Possessing the ability to sense the presence of your foe may possibly be the conclusive point of the battle. Thus I immersed myself in the Arts of Seals and eventually came up with the idea of Suppression Seals and Storage Seals"

"That still doesn't explain why I can't sense you" Kakashi asked impatiently with a frown on his face.

"I was getting to that" Naruto retorted with a glare

"The cloak I wear has Suppression Seals engraved all over it and has the ability to suppress my Chakra so masterfully that it appears as though i don't possess Chakra at all. My Chakra is too wild and potent to be suppressed by mere seals, so I did the next best thing that would benefit me either way. I engraved Storage Seals over my back and heart, around my arms and over my navel. As you know that the Kyuubi's Chakra is slowly absorbed into my own, thus increasing its potency and amount, while it may appear as an advantage, it's not, maybe in some situations, but not regarding control. Possessing potent Chakra renders your control absolutely useless, the more potent and large the Chakra of an individual is, the harder it is for him to control, thus the reason for Storage Seals. What it does is that it slowly siphons off Chakra from my Chakra pool and stores it for further use, should the creator ever find himself in a tight situation. That way I limit my Chakra and still have a triumph card should I need it, in other words, you can call it limiters of my Chakra"

Kakashi was evidently impressed by the complexity of the bonds' intellect. He knew Uzumaki's were the Master of Seals, but to hear a Genin come up with something like this as if it was the most simple thing in existence was absolutely ridiculous. The sheer brain capacity of the blond made him sometimes forget that Naruto was still a Genin.

"But doesn't its Chakra harm you?" Kakashi questioned.

"Not necessarily. The Chakra absorbed into me from the Kyuubi is first purified of its poisonous nature by the Seal and then released into my Chakra pool. But I suggest you refrain from calling the Kyuubi an 'it'. They are not some mindless beast without conscious. They have their own free will and are capable of individual thoughts, it's us human that have confused them due to our greedy nature, believing them to be beast of immeasurable Chakra to be used and enslaved" Naruto warned in a threatening tone while Kakashi flinched.

From within the mindscape, Kyuubi looked on in interest and respect. He had grown to respect the cold blond a tiny bit more due to his unchanging heart and resolve. He had been skeptical of the boys' simple intention, finding them laughable to see a human try to comprehend a being so vast and complex with their feeble minds. He had been surprised to witness the blond come to the seal after his training every day and ask him random question. At first he had been amused to see the blond wrap his mind around his behavior, with the passage of time, the masked blond slowly and gradually started to understand why he did what he did. But he himself never truly understood the blond.

All that was nothing compare to the respect he gained right now with those few lines alone. To see a human stand against his own kind for the sake of the Biju's had been invoking some sort of sentiment from him. The kind of feeling he had discarded long ago since the Old man death.

' **You're a very shrewd man, Mortal. I simply cannot comprehend this attitude of yours. Why stand up for someone who has been the cause of your hellish life? Why stand up for someone you don't know?'** Kyuubi mused.

'I merely speak what I believe is right. They do not understand you nor try to, yet they have the audacity to question your existence'

"Ok then, how can you sense me while others can't?" Kakashi asked, hoping the blond was in generous mood and to shift the topic.

"Don't push your luck. It's bad enough that I told you my secret; kindly refrain from questioning me any further" Naruto declared matter of factly while Kakashi sweatdropped at the blunt response.

The two descended in to a comfortable silence, both lost in their thoughts. Naruto eventually broke the silence "Kakashi, I have been wondering, when are you going to start training the team?"

"Well, I plan on teaching them Tree Walking tomorrow" Kakashi admitted, while Naruto looked at him expectantly "What?"

"That's it? Just Tree Walking? Not any hand to hand combat instruction, not any Ninjutsu training?" the disbelief could be clearly detected from his tone.

"Yes. They are not ready to learn Ninjutsu yet"

"I can't believe you became a Jonin with that kind of mindset" Naruto said coldly. Kakashi seemed offended and gave him a glare.

"Watch what you are saying, Naruto. I'm still your superior" Kakashi said with a frown.

"You expect three genins to combat against an enemy that delivered you your ass in a silver platter with just Tree Walking exercise? Have you lost your mind? Let me guess, you suppose Sakura will deaf him to death while Sasuke broods him to death. You would no doubt be occupied with Zabuza, so that leaves the fake Hunter-nin to the three of us. Sakura has no Ninja Skill whatsoever, yet you expect her to fight against a Chunin level Ninja. Sasuke on the other hand may be able to fight him for a while, but he can't win. What? Did you think the Mist-nins would be defeated just because they can climb a tree without their hands" Naruto stood up and slowly edged towards the end of the roof and looked over his shoulder at the fuming Kakashi

"Do yourself a favor and train them, otherwise, you will have two more names to look at on the Memorial Stone" Kakashi eyes widened in shock "You have lived in the past for so long, you have forgotten the present and future. Mourning Obito and Rin as well as my father is not going to solve your problem if you don't move an inch. You mourn Obito because you think it was your weakness that led to his demise, yet you let your current students fend for themselves".

"I know my words may sound harsh and cruel, but I'm going to say the truth even if I have to ruffle up a few feathers"

With his piece done and said, Naruto disappeared into the darkness of the night, leaving an angry and confused Kakashi behind.

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Coming to a stop atop a tree far away from the house, he sat down with a frown. He knew what he had said to Kakashi was harsh, using Obito and Rin, but it had to be done. Sometimes you have to be cruel and harsh to deliver a lesson to its utmost effect. He just hoped Kakashi didn't take his words as nothing more but a threat to his teaching style.

Kakashi expected them to stop a Chunin level Nin while he fights Zabuza. While normally this wouldn't have been an issue, but in this case it was. One of them had to guard Tazuna, while the two of them fought. Now if all three of them were as effective as needed, then it may not have been a problem.

Sakura didn't have the slightest clue about being a Ninja, so if she were to guard Tazuna, then that would give the enemy a predictable advantage. They could somehow distract Kakashi and kill both Sakura and Tazuna.

Sasuke while an effective fighter was too arrogant to guard the man effectively. If he were to guard Tazuna, then that would leave Sakura to fight with him against the Chunin, but she would die by fighting.

He, himself had to do one thing or the other, he would have to either guard the bridge builder or fight the Chunin, it was all so confusing.

Bringing his hands to the cross hand sign, he muttered "Shadow Clone Jutsu". A large puff of smoke signified the completion of the Jutsu as a large army of clones appeared "All right, you know what to do" the clones nodded and headed out in separate groups. A group of fifty clones remained, Naruto turned to them and dropped to the familiar stance of Goken"Let's get this over with, but remember no Fire or Wind manipulation, just plain and simple Taijutsu"

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Kakashi and the Genins plus the family were sitting around a table eating breakfast, Naruto was nowhere to be found, he had not return since the day they had arrived at Wave, only appearing at morning to take Tazuna to the bridge and after escorting Tazuna back to the house to wait for the arrival of the team.

"It seems Naruto is not here again. I just don't understand that boy" Kakashi frowned, still confused about his debate with Naruto. He had thought about it all night, he had to admit the blond bastard was right.

"Just leave the loser to do what he wants" Sasuke said with a scowl, Sakura nodded her head in approval.

"Young man, I advise you to respect your teammate in my presence, otherwise, things will not be…pleasant" Tsunami said with a sickly sweet smile on her face, the rest of the group shivered, even Sasuke. Tsunami had taken it upon herself to maintain order in the house meaning no Icha Icha, no sake and no vulgar language. Kakashi was unconscious for three hours straight after that particular announcement, followed by Tazuna after the ban on Sake was authorized.

"I know I made the right choice when I said I liked you" Came the deep voice of the missing blond as he appeared in the living room out of the blue, scaring the crap out of the group.

"What the hell? How many times do I have to tell you not to appear like that" Sakura shouted in anger, trying to calm her frantically beating heart.

THUNK

"Didn't I say to not use curse words in my house?" Sakura shivered and nodded, rubbing her head after receiving a blow from the Frying Pan of Doom, as Kakashi had dubbed it.

"All right, since Naruto is guarding Tazuna, we'll do some training" Kakashi declared, standing up with the support of his crutches. Sasuke looked like he was about to have an orgasm.

"Finally" Sasuke said in his usual arrogant tone.

Naruto looked at Kakashi with approval; it seemed he had taken his advice. He would send a clone to spy on them just to see what he was about to teach them. He turned to the bridge builder "Mr. Tazuna, I believe we should get going as well"

"Right"

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 **Later That Night**

Naruto and Tazuna returned to the house to find Sasuke and Sakura sprawled over the table as if they had just conquered the world. Kakashi was reading his novel discreetly seeing as Tsunami was in the kitchen, and occasionally letting out a perverted giggle. He had been disappointed to see Kakashi teach them Tree Climbing, but it wasn't his fault entirely since Sasuke couldn't even complete that in a day. He would have to wait and see if Kakashi had any other plans for teaching them something else after Tree Climbing.

Seeing as his job was done, Naruto turned around and was about to leave the house when Tsunami's voice stopped him mid-steps, Kakashi suddenly hid away his novel and whistled innocently "Aren't you going to have dinner with us Naruto, you always leave before eating anything, you even spend the nights outside, do you really detest us that much?"

The hurt and sadness could be clearly heard through her tone, so hurtful that even Naruto flinched. He hadn't realized his regular departure would hurt anyone, considering his cold and detached personality.

"It's not a question of hatred or dislike, I simply enjoy my privacy" Naruto answered softly. The team was surprised by his soft and caring tone especially Sakura and Sasuke, they had never heard him talk in anything short of monotone, even his sarcastic and taunting comments were in monotone and detached voice.

"You can get your privacy here as well. I can provide you with a separate room" she said hopefully. The masked blond was the only normal person around the house, her father was a drunk, her son was a brooder, Sakura was a howler monkey, Kakashi was a pervert and Sasuke was arrogant.

"I'm grateful for your kind offer but I'm afraid I'll have to decline" he said and disappeared from the house without a trace, causing Tsunami to sigh in dejection.

"I'm sure he will come around" Kakashi said comfortingly, though even he knew those were empty words.

"I sure hope so, now.." she turned around with a maniacal look on her face and produced what Kakashi had dubbed as the Frying Pan of Doom "I said no Perverted Novels and Sake in my presence" Kakashi backed away from the evilly laughing and cackling lady as he sweated bullets.

The animals and other creatures of the night were awaken to the sounds of manly screams of pain and agony accompanied by the shouts of 'no my precious! '

Naruto appeared above a large clearing far away from town on a tree and landed down with a soft thud. Seeing as he had a lot of time on his hands, it was time to train and let out all the emotions he had built up over the week.

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 **Next Morning**

Naruto woke up to the soft sounds of twigs crushing under something or someone, no doubt a person walking in the early morning breeze. He slowly cracked open his eyes and sat up with a sigh.

Last night was tiring to say the least, his clones seemed to have some sort of vengeance against him if the numerous gigantic fireballs augmented by wind shot at him and the scorched trees of the forest were any indication. He hadn't let anyone of them without burning them to a crisp in the end to satisfy his growing lust for battle.

The person who walked into the clearing was a black haired female, wearing a pink kimono with a basket in her hand. She seemed to be looking for something but apparently her search was going to be very hard since Naruto had burned the whole clearing. Her face lit up in recognition but she seemed skilled enough to hide it well with a small smile.

Naruto narrowed his eyes behind his mask while she made her way towards him. The slight reaction to his presence, the trained and on guard way that she walked and the slight bulge in her kimono obviously hinted at something more than what she was trying to appear.

"Good morning, may I ask if you're the one to burn this clearing?" she asked softly with a smile.

"Unfortunately, it was me" Naruto replied evenly, not giving any indication of his state of mood.

"It's unfortunate indeed; I was looking for some herbs that are usually grown here"

"Medical herbs?"

"Yes"

Now that she was close enough, there was no doubt in his mind that this was the fake Hunter-nin who rescued Zabuza before his death. If she was looking for medical herbs, then that meant Zabuza was still not ready, meaning more time for him to train "How rude of me, my name is Haku, nice to meet you…"

"Naruto"

"Ok, Naruto, you mind helping me find some herbs?" she asked softly, Naruto sighed in resignation. She was obviously trying to gain some insight to his personality and in turn find a weakness, however his presence with her would give him more info on her than she could gain from him.

"It would be my pleasure"

Naruto stood up and dusted his long black cloak as he walked away with the Hunter-nin observing him keenly "You seem rather keen on observing my every move, I wonder why?"

She suddenly averted her eyes and looked forward "I'm curious. Your mood of dress suggests that you're a Ninja; it's my first time seeing one in person. So forgive me if my behavior offended you in any way"

"First time seeing a Ninja? Surprising" Naruto commented lightly "but expected considering that Wave has no Ninja Village"

"Yes. You never answered my question, are you a Ninja?"

"Perhaps"

Haku gave the strange tall blond an amused look, a genuine look of amusement. He seemed more friendly and welcoming than his mood of dress and cold personality would suggest. He may be the one who caused Zabuza's defeat but he was kind of interesting.

"Not so keen on giving away answers, are you?" she asked pointedly while Naruto gave her a sideway glance.

"Depends"

Haku let out a soft chuckle at the curt response. He really was interesting!

"Here we are, I'm not experienced in the art of healing, but I believe I should be able to help provided that you show me a simple of what you're trying to gather" they reached a wide clearing similar to the one Naruto had burned. Haku nodded and pulled out a medical herb from the ground.

"It's similar to this"

Naruto kneeled to the ground and silently started pulling out the required herbs while Haku observed him discreetly. His voice sounded deep but young, younger than her if her ears told her right, yet his giant stature was not of someone of that age. The broadness of his cloak covered shoulders hinted at intense physical training and if the burned clearing back there was any indication, he was proficient in Fire Style Techniques.

"May I ask a question?" she voiced politely while Naruto looked up from his work.

"You just did"

She smiled at the amused tone in his voice "I will take that as a yes then. Why did you become a Ninja? By my estimation, you're a year or so younger than me"

"Hmmm, a rather personal question but one I can answer. You can say I became a Ninja because I refuse to remain weak" he answered coldly, recalling the many harsh events of his life, the cool and chilly nights on the streets, the constant beating on his birthday and the cold looks. He would never become weak even if he had to become the very demon the villagers feared and despised.

Haku winced from the cold tone, it seemed he, like the rest of the Ninjas was driven by revenge and hatred.

"Now I'll ask a question, why do I see sadness and dullness in your eyes? The same dullness possessed by those who had given up on happiness all together and simply live. Alive only for the sake of others, to fulfill others dreams, dreams that they had no time to accomplish"

Haku's eyes widened in shock and astonishment at his perceptiveness and accurate description of her life. She lived only to accomplish Zabuza's dream, to aid him in his goal like a true and loyal weapon. Was she really that expressive?

Or was he simply that good at reading people?

"Takes one to know one" she replied while Naruto let out a soft mirthless chuckle.

"Maybe or maybe not. Who knows?" he replied mysteriously.

"Well then, it was fun talking with you Naruto but I'm afraid I'll be going now" she said and stood up gracefully, taking the basket full of medical herbs with her "Oh and by the way, I'm a boy"

That comment always seemed to make people flustered and sputtering in shock. She turned around and waited for Naruto, expecting the same thing however, all she got was a masked face staring back at her without even a single twitch of movement.

"You may be able to fool others with that comment but you can't fool my eyes or my nose, Hunter-nin" Naruto stated pointedly, causing the now identified Hunter-nin to widen her eyes in shock.

"You knew?" Haku stiffened and reached for her hidden Senbons but stopped when Naruto simply raised his hand.

"Like I said, you can't fool my eyes or my nose, though I mean you no harm" he explained calmly.

Haku relaxed and lowered her Senbons, eyeing the calm and perceptive blond with curiosity.

"Why? You know I'm your enemy" she asked suspiciously, still not sure why he would not attack knowing she was his enemy.

"We're not in battle right now, merely two humans interacting together without any violence involved"

Haku gave Naruto a strange look and walk away with a small smile, strangely satisfied with his response "I'll see you tomorrow then, goodbye"

"I never said anything about meeting again" Naruto whispered to himself seeing as Haku had already left the clearing.

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 **Two Days Later**

It had been two days since Naruto had met Haku. Even though his heart said one thing, his body would do another. There were a lot of clearings to train in, yet he would always somehow end up where he had met Haku. It seemed it was the same with her; she would always use the excuse of collecting herbs even when the herbs were nowhere to be found since she had taken all of them. She would come to the same clearing in the excuse she was there to collect herbs for Zabuza and talk about small topics, however slowly but surely, she had opened up a little which Naruto had returned albeit slightly.

Naruto was not surprised to find that his suspicion about her horrible past were true. She had lived on the streets just like him except she had been rescued by Zabuza while he had to fend for himself until the Hokage had found him.

His idea of opening up was to help her in her training, meaning to come up with ideas in which she could improve her skills even further.

All these jumbled thoughts and emotion was confusing him. He should be ruthless towards his enemy yet he had helped her train.

Was it because she was like him?

Was he feeling sympathy for another victim of the same treatment he had endured?

Or was it something entirely different?

Naruto shook his head to clear his confusing thoughts and looked around the worn down town of Wave. He had just taken Tazuna to his house and had excused himself to take a short walk through town in order to observe. The situation of the town was depressing and oozing off despair. Empty shops, worn down buildings and skeleton like people due to lack of food. His heart went out to the children slumped to the sides of the walls in front of empty shops, hoping someone would be kind enough to give them food, unfortunately there was nothing to be given.

He stopped walking when something clutched his cloak and gave it a small tug, Naruto turned around and saw a small girl with large green eyes looking at him with expectant eyes. His heart clenched at the sight of those large innocent eyes, his hands begging to wrap around Gato's maggot neck so he could squeeze the life out of him for putting such innocent children through hell.

"H-hey mister, do you have any food?" she asked meekly, no doubt scared of his tall and black clothed appearance. The fact that she had mustered up the courage to ask despite his intimidating visage hinted at her over-bearing hunger.

"I don't have anything with me right now but I can provide you with something if you show me where you live" he replied kindly and kneeled to her eye level. She seemed hesitant to guide him to her house but eventually the thought of getting food convinced her.

She nodded and started to run away in front of Naruto. He followed her to a run-down building with no doors, no windows or anything. The state of the building had Naruto wondering how it was still standing. The little girl entered and shouted to her housemates so to speak. Naruto clenched his fist when he saw at least 15 small boys and girls wearing rags, running out of the building with beaming and expectant smiles. However when they saw no food, all the happy expressions changed to disappointment and depression.

"Hello there, kids, my name is Naruto Uzumaki" Naruto introduced kindly, the children nodded warily and introduced themselves one by one "Ok, you stay here, I'll be back in an hour with some food"

Wave was an island nation, meaning it was surrounded by sea, meaning fishes.

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I know it was short and all but like I said the construction is keeping me way too busy to have time for writing. Even still I write something during the night even if its 3 am just so I could keep my word of not abandoning a story. Those of you who have read my other story, "Wandering Soul" thanks and those who haven't, read it. I'm sure it will be fun.

Review.


	6. Chapter 6: The End of Wave

The End of Wave

 **Answers to reviews,**

 **Shellyz** : Yes, I agree on the CRA part, but the romance part will be gradual as well as believable. It seems you are the kind of guy or gal who enjoys stories without romance, but I'm sure I can interest you with the way I have in mind.

 **Guest** : Your suggestion is appreciated and welcomed but I'm afraid I can't write the crossover you want me to, not because I can't, but because I have no knowledge regarding this Digimon Universe.

 **Almightyironman** : Yes Yes, I admit being mistaken on that part. I'll try to correct it when I have time. Thanks for the heads up though.

 **Ucen** : Yeah, that's one mistake I admit, I'll try to correct it when I have time.

 **Shaggy123** : The answer to the question is correct. Now, as for your suggestion, it has merit, but I've already chosen a Summon for him, which actually compliment his Fire Nature. So thanks and sorry.

 **Xypher1** : First of all, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for reviewing my story with such blunt honesty. Seriously, I greatly enjoyed readying what you'd written because it actually made some sense.

As for your other suggestions,

Like I answered to shellyz, there will be romance. However, there will be No romance over night or in the course of three or four days, that's just… not appealing at all. I have no intention of making this a harem or CRA crap story. So you can breathe in relief.

And yes, Kurenai will be someone who can at least fight properly or befitting of her status as an Elite Jonin. If she is listed as an Elite Jonin, then she can't be someone who can't properly block Itachi's kick. But, you'll see everything or rather read everything in time, because I prefer to let my words speak for me.

Kurama, I don't know if there was any Affinity listed in the cannon about him. Let's take the other eight beasts for example. Shukaku has sand, Matatabi has blue fire, Isobu has water, Son Goku has Lava, Kokuo has Steam, Saiken has acid, Chomei has Dust or particle and Gyuki has Ink. However, no specific ability other than the Tailed beast Bomb regarding Kyuubi has been listed in anime, so I took Fire affinity and gave it to him.

As for him finding wind Manipulation hard, it's because I wanted to limit his abilities. Giving him complete control over both elements would be making him too powerful too fast. That by no means imply that he will have no control over it, more like he would be able to control it better than an average Wind style user, but still not able to master it until the Shippuden Arc. Hope that answers your question? Thanks and keep up the good work!

 **Lara5170** : First of all, I admit being mistake on that part and will correct in time. Secondly, He not only covers his face but his hair as well, and no it will not hinder his movement since it's there for a reason. And thanks!

 **BlackRoseDragon97** : I know right? Both Naruto and Sasuke trains under Sannin for three years and suddenly Sasuke is able to defeat his brother when his teacher, Orochimaru could not. And Naruto is not even able to defeat Sasuke when they meet. What the hell?

 **Winner of the previous Question (TBM10, shaggy123)**

 **Question of the day (** **If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?** **)**

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 **Wave Forest, Six days Later**

It was early morning in the Land of Waves. The green and lively forest serenely obscured by a soft canopy of fog, the leaves of the trees dropping small crystal drops of water to the thirsty ground. Small birds chirping in the trees above, eagerly waiting for their parent to bring them something.

Under the shade of a tall tree sat Naruto, his back leaning against the woody structure, hands behind his head as he listened to the soft and lively chirping of the birds.

It had been 5 days since he had met Haku and the day of the inevitable fighting was closing in fast. Today would be his last day off here in Wave, either good or bad. The soft breeze of the morning was not helping his mood, instead worsening it even further. Not because he was allergic to the wind, but rather allergic to the memories it brought with itself.

Normally he wouldn't be confused or fear the occurrence of a battle. Fear may not be the correct word, maybe anxious was more like it. He was anxious about the upcoming battle with Zabuza and Haku.

Yes, Haku, the reason for his apparent state of confusion.

The five days he had spent with her had been confusing to say the least, if he had been someone else, he might have been thrilled to be in the company of someone so gentle and kind, but he was confused. The life he had lived didn't exactly let him have ties with anyone since he never trusted anyone except maybe Kurenai a bit.

Her recalling of the story of her hellish life may have been the only factor for gaining his trust, albeit a little. That had been two days ago, now he was not so sure. He had even found himself smiling behind his mask several times after their conversation, much to his shock and confusion.

Why would he want to smile?

Why should he smile?

They had been meeting every day since their meeting, despite his reluctance to do so. He had battled with his inner self several times to suppress the desire for her company, yet had always lost. He had tried so many times to stop himself from going to that damn clearing every single morning, yet had always been disappointed to find himself standing there without even realizing it.

It was as if his feet had a mind of its own!

He knew he should have read that book Kurenai had given to him on his birthday about emotions and feelings. Well, there was no use thinking over it now, he would find the solution one way or the other, but for now, he had to wait for her arrival.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Haku walked through the dense forest of Wave towards the clearing she had been to so many times. The clearing she had completely cleaned from the Medical herbs, the clearing where she had met a person as tall and resilient as a mountain, as calm as the serene waves of the sea yet gentler than the softest of breezes.

How could a man be strong and gentle at the same time?

How could a man not know emotion yet still commit the actions of an emotionally well-aware person?

Naruto was that kind of person.

The five days she had spent with him had been the happiest days of her life, despite the fact that Naruto still held a little bit of distrust in his heart and spoke very little and honestly, she couldn't blame him.

He hadn't talk much about his past or his life during the course of the week, but what she had understood from the few times he had spoken, she knew that his life had been as hellish as hers, maybe even more. That made him all the more appealing to her.

He had given her tips and pointers on how to improve her skills, without taking into account the fact that she was still his enemy. She had been immensely surprised to see that his tips had actually yielded astounding results.

The few times he had spared with her, she had learned that his Taijutsu and physical strength was absolutely monstrous as well as his speed, if her still bruised forearms had anything to say about it. Blocking a punch from him had been like blocking a steel hammer with her forearms.

The speed he had shown during those sparing had been mind-boggling to say the least. The technique he had used apparently depended on the number of footsteps taken by the user. The fewer the steps, the more speed. What must have he endured or been through to develop such skills in his short life.

She shook her head to clear the thoughts from her mind when she arrived at the clearing and saw the object of her thoughts leaning against the tree in all his black cloaked glory. Despite wearing that unnervingly emotionless mask, she could still almost picture his handsome face as calm as the sea itself while looking at the serenely green trees.

Sensing her arrival to the clearing, Naruto looked down from watching the tree branches but didn't say anything, causing Haku to give him a small smile.

"Still can't say Hello or Good morning, can you?" she asked teasingly, though she couldn't tell what he was feeling.

"Good morning" Naruto said blankly, looking at her confusingly. He had been hoping he would have more time to think about his thoughts, but it seems he didn't have such luck.

"That's more like it. Good morning to you too" she grinned softly, not really wanting to discourage him by saying that his greeting sounded more like a Zombie's greeting and slowly walked up to his sitting form as she sat down next to him gracefully "You are quite distressed"

Naruto gave her a sideway glance with his ever emotionless black mask "Why would you think that?"

"Come on, I've observed you for 5 days, I can tell when you are grumpy" she replied pointedly and giggled inwardly when he gave her a swift glance, knowing she had irritated him by the 'grumpy' comment.

"I could say the same about you"

"I guess"

The two descended into an uncomfortable silence, the air thick with tension and unanswered question, until finally Haku couldn't take it anymore "So are we going to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" Naruto asked blankly, even though he knew what she was going to say.

"Please, don't beat around the bush, Naruto. I know as well as you do what I'm talking about"

"Still, enlighten me"

"The upcoming battle"

Haku blinked in shock when Naruto let out a tired sigh "What is there to talk about?"

'Wow, so he can actually sigh! That's a first' she thought surprisingly.

"Well, how about your feelings regarding the fight?" she asked openly, hoping beyond hope that he would give her the answers she wished for.

"My feelings?" Naruto hummed "I can't describe them even if I wanted to. I have never been good in voicing the feelings of my heart. But, to put it simply, I suppose you could say I'm confused"

Haku blinked once again in surprise, not expecting that kind of answer. Then again, she should have expected nothing less considering his detached personality. She was even more disappointed in his answer than she thought she would be.

"Oh"

Naruto turned towards her curiously "You seem disappointed. I wonder why?"

Haku sighed sadly, knowing she would have to spill the beans for him "Well of course, I'm disappointed. After all this time, I thought you would at least understand a little what friendship was all about"

Her blunt answer hurt him more than she would ever know or realize.

"You jumped to conclusion before I could properly simplify the implication of my words" Naruto replied with a tired sigh "I'm confused about my own feelings in this matter. Since my childhood, I have always been a man of action rather than words, neither did I had any need for words to get my points across, which is the reason why I don't know what I'm feeling right now"

Haku, despite her irritation and disappointment gave him a sympathetic look "Simply describe the sensation and I'll help with its meaning"

"The simple way would be to say that I'm riddled whether I should fight you during our inevitable battle or simply abandon the mission. Abandoning the mission is not a problem, but in doing so, I would be leaving an innocent man and his family, not to mention the children of this island into the hands of a scumbag" Naruto explained tiredly, causing Haku to stare at him confusingly.

"Are you saying you don't want to fight with me?"

"That would be the only explanation"

She smiled knowingly, ignoring the feeling of lightheadedness due to his admission "And that is what we call the feeling of friendship"

Well, it seems he had finally realized that he was feeling protective of her. Despite his cold and detached personality, she had seen that he could be quite gentle and caring.

During their training, she had been burned slightly by one of his Fire Style Jutsu after she had insisted that he use it against her, he had carried her to the base of a tree, and had healed her using some sort of green aura emitting from his hands, which she had later realized was basic Healing Jutsu. He himself seemed confused by his actions, but it had given her a new outlook regarding his nature.

She had also learned that he was a man of many secrets and layers. She hadn't realized that he knew Medical Ninjutsu and had asked why he hadn't told her after he had healed her, only to receive the curt response of 'You never asked'.

"Feeling of friendship?" he asked curiously, though he had a feeling she was not telling him the true meaning of his feelings.

"Yes"

"I see. Well, that is the extent of my feelings on the matter, now tell me yours" Naruto said with a slight hint of concealed skepticism.

Haku raised her hand to her chin in a thinking gesture, pondering how she should voice out her thoughts to satisfy him and not actually tell him the full truth "My feelings are simple. I neither want to fight you nor betray Zabuza seeing as I've come to admire you over the last five days"

"Admire me? I under no circumstances realized I had qualities worthy of being admired" Naruto asked curiously with a raised eyebrow under his mask.

"You'd be surprised how many good qualities you have and how much I have come to admire you. You and I mostly share the same background, yet you didn't allow yourself to be swallowed in misery. Instead you pulled yourself from the clutches of fate and made yourself into the man you are today. I on the other hand allowed myself to be made into the weapons of others" she said fondly, knowing what she said was true.

He had been the same as her, yet he had made himself a strong Ninja despite the odds against him, while she had let herself be molded into the weapons of others.

"You still have time to change your path"

"Yes, but I swore loyalty to Zabuza and I intend to follow it through" she said with conviction, though Naruto could sense a slight indecisiveness in her tone.

"You do realize he is taking innocents lives regardless of his reason?" Naruto asked calmly, knowing what Zabuza was doing was wrong but for the right reason. He was trying to gather enough funds to properly help the rebellions in Mist to take over the village and kill the tyrannical Mizukage. However, just because he was desperate to free his country didn't mean he had to take innocent lives to do so.

She sighed dejectedly "I know"

Naruto sighed once again, well aware that he had been doing that a lot these days as he gazed at the tree once again. If he hadn't met with her on that day, he wouldn't have had this problem. Well, he still had almost 1 day and 20 hours to find the answers.

Without saying a word, Naruto stood up and dusted his long black cloak, causing Haku to give him a confused look "Haku, why don't you come here next morning before departing for the bridge"

She stood up gracefully and gave him a confused look "Why?"

"I may have some answers to our collective problem" Naruto replied calmly and looked towards the shinning sun rising over the horizon "For now, go and get some rest"

"What about you?" she asked worriedly.

"I'll try to get some info from some of Gato's lapdogs. Goodbye"

With that said, Naruto disappeared without a trace to think and get his thoughts straight, leaving behind a worried and disappointed Haku.

She had been hoping he would come clean with his feelings, but it seems that she had been expecting too much, considering he didn't exactly know what he was feeling or what emotions were for that matter. Taking Naruto's warning and Zabuza's health into account, she knew tomorrow would be a day to remember. Whether a happy day or a tragic day, she didn't know and frankly didn't want to know.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Town, Night Time**

Naruto was strolling through the depressingly worn down town of Wave under a disguise. He had transformed himself into the appearance of a blonde woman in her early twenties in order to properly gain the attention of the scumbags he was sure would come. He hated to do this, to sully the name and image of women everywhere but, he had to face the disgusting fact that women were more likely to gain their attention than men.

He had already made his mind that he would kill the one who approached him first and then get the info from the second one, simply to teach them a lesson to never look down on women again with their disgusting leers and drooling stares.

Walking through Town, many of the children gave 'her' looks of silent want, expecting 'her' to have something since 'she' was dressed in a royal blue kimono, a symbol of nobility or a wealthy person. 'She' couldn't do anything now, but 'she' would eventually, by freeing the island. Judging from the looks directed at 'her' from some of the men, 'she' knew they were most likely Gato's goons.

'She' had to stop 'herself' from burning the disgusting man that stopped in front of 'her' as if he was a Kami on earth, with that equally disgusting leer on his face. His disguise seemed to have gained the attention of not only one scumbag but two.

"Hey there little missy, what are doing here all by your lonesome?" one of the man said with a perverted grin.

"Yeah, don't you know that this place is dangerous?" the other asked with an equally perverted grin.

'She' faked a look of horror and ran for the alleys, causing the two men to laugh loudly and follow unknowingly to their deaths. He came to a stop near a dead end and turned around with a fake mask of horror and fear.

Looking around, 'she' knew this place would be the appropriate location to carry out 'her' investigation and torture.

"Well well, look at 'em, ain't she a beauty?" the first man asked the other a chuckle.

"Allow us to entertain you for a moment or two"

The two suddenly looked confused when the blonde lost that look of horror and fear, instantly replaced with one of blankness and emptiness. Just looking into those blue orbs of coldness was like looking into the deep and mercilessly chilling embrace of a void. It was unnerving and frankly quite scary to see a woman who should be frightened for her life and dignity looking that calm and composed.

Naruto released the Transformation with a ram seal, causing the two thugs to look startled and confused to see a woman suddenly turn into a black cloaked man.

Before they had time to even blink, the first of the two looked behind him to see the black cloaked man impaling his shivering and screaming partner with a flaming sword. His eyes widened in shock and horror when his partner was reduced to mere ashes right in front of his eyes.

The ashes of his used-to-be partner were carried by a sudden gust of wind and the man turned towards him. He dropped to his knees and hands when he looked at the frightening visage of the tall cloaked man.

Black cloak fluttering in the wind as if it was alive, his head covered by a black hood obscuring his face in shadows, only the left side of his black eyehole-less mask visible due to the light emitting from the blazing sword in the man's large hands. It was as if he was death given form, a symbol of destruction and chaos.

" **Tell me everything I need to know about Gato and I might consider letting you live** " Naruto stated in a deep demonic tone, causing the man to lose control over his bowls and soil himself while Naruto looked on with disgust.

Upon witnessing the merciless death of his partner, the man started talking like a man possessed, from narrating every single word uttered from Gato's mouth up to his recent plans for Wave. Getting all the information he needed, Naruto raised the flaming sword and split the man in half as he walked away, leaving the residual flames to consume the two halves and burn it to ashes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Tazuna's House, A Few Hours Later**

Kakashi and his two Genins returned to the house to see Inari sitting quietly in a chair with his head down like usual, Tsunami cooking in the Kitchen and Tazuna already escorted by Naruto to the house since the man was sitting on the coach with an almost constipated look on his face, obviously from the lack of any Sake.

It had been 6 days since they had arrived at Wave and Naruto still hadn't shown up even once during Lunch, Dinner or Breakfast for that matter. They had only seen him in the mornings and evening when he would escort Tazuna out to the bridge or back to the house.

It was as if he wasn't a part of their team, but rather a man all alone. He just couldn't understand that boy! No greetings or goodbyes! He was like a machine, unaware of anything else but his mission. Coming to the house during mornings to pick Tazuna without uttering a word and escorting him back without a single word, only to disappear again, that was not how a team performed a mission.

"Yo" he greeted tiredly, unable to bring himself to say something witty or cheerful due to the mood of the house. He sweatdropped when he received no response from the residents of the house.

'Wow, no Frying Pan of Doom to the head' he mused with a deadpan.

"Why is everyone so depressed all of a sudden?" Sakura asked tiredly.

"Who cares?" Sasuke retorted dismissively and crossed his hands over his chest as he walked to the chair arrogantly and sat down with a loud huff.

Kakashi sighed tiredly, knowing exactly why everyone was so depressed. Ok, Inari was always depressed but, Tazuna and Tsunami were depressed due a certain cloaked Jinchuriki not coming to the house and his mistake of telling them of the aforementioned man's horrible past.

He walked up to a chair and sat down, looking around discreetly to search for any signs of danger. Satisfied with the situation, he reached for his back pocket to pull out his novel and read a few delicious lines of perverted goodness, when a sound scared the living daylights out of him.

"Was there a funeral I didn't know about?" a deep monotone but familiar voice sounded out of the blue.

"Gah!"

"Kya!"

Sasuke, Sakura, Tazuna and Inari let out loud shouts of fright when Naruto appeared in the middle of the house without a sound while Kakashi simply jumped out of his seat in case of an attack directed at his precious.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" the three shouted at the same time, trying to stop their frantically beating hearts when they realized that the sound belonged to their missing teammate/guest, while Inari, despite his frightened state, and Kakashi remained silent, albeit with deep frowns on their faces.

THUNK

THUNK

THUNK

Their decision seemed to have been the correct one, considering the fact that the three received brutal attacks right on their heads courtesy of Tsunami, causing them to fall down from their chairs with large bumps pulsing painfully

"Language!" Tsunami declared menacingly with a sweet smile on her face, rubbing the handle of the Frying pan as if she was petting a cat or a dog. The two kids and one old man grumbled incoherently and rubbed their painfully pulsing heads while Naruto stood there like a statue, inwardly blinking in surprise.

Just his presence had instigated so many changes in the house. He had scared two grown men and three kids simply by appearing in the house. Three of the aforementioned people had received frying pan to the heads by yelling at him, while he hadn't even moved a muscle!

Damn, he was good!

His eyes widened in surprise when a warm body suddenly came into contact with his own, he looked down and saw the black haired head of Tsunami, hugging him tightly.

Kakashi and the others looked on with shock, wondering what caused the normally maniacal woman to hug the tall Genin so passionately.

No one was more surprised than Naruto himself as he stood there frozen like a statue, not knowing what to do in such a situation. This was his first time receiving such an intimate contact from another body, even though Kurenai had tried to hug him playfully but he had refused.

Tsunami looked up after a few moments of hugging him tightly and looked straight at his mask covered eyes with a soft look on her face, slowly reaching her hands to caress his mask "The pervert told me all about your past. If I knew you had been through that much when you were just a child, I would've tried to reach out for you sooner" she said softly while Naruto looked on without moving a muscle "I thought we of the Wave had suffered, but to hear that a child even younger than Inari had been through hell in his homeland by his own people, I realized that our suffering could never even come close to yours even if we were to suffer for all eternity under Gato's rule"

The two Genins were looking wide eyed at the scene, wondering what Naruto had gone through that the suffering of Wave wouldn't and couldn't match.

Sasuke was particularly shocked and curious to know just what the tall Genin had gone through and to compare it with his own. Despite his loathing and hatred of the tall man, Sasuke couldn't help but admire him for his strength, power, determination and quick skills of judgment.

His attitude and cold personality had to have been the result of something tragic, seeing as you don't just develop a detached personality out of the blue. Itachi had been the same, despite his reasons.

Sakura, even though scared of him and his tall stature, couldn't help but picture a small innocent blond boy going through endless cycle of despair and tragedy, even though she didn't know what he had gone through.

Inari didn't say anything and simply looked on with tears filled eyes, knowing exactly what his mother was talking about, seeing as he had been there when Kakashi had narrated Naruto's past full of tragedy. To think he had been sulking just because his father was killed, while Naruto had lost both parents as soon as he had been born, not to mention being ostracized by his people for something he had no choice in.

Naruto regained his composer and separated himself from Tsunami's distractingly warm embrace much to her disappointment and sadness, as he gave Kakashi a soul piercing gaze that sent shivers down his spine "Who gave you the permission to tell them about my past?"

Kakashi fumbled for an answer but couldn't find one and simply lowered his head in resignation.

"Why do you push everyone away?" Tsunami asked sadly.

"Dependence on others is the same as admitting your weakness and I refuse to be a weakling" Naruto responded coldly.

"This is not a battle Naruto, why do you treat everyone with suspicion? I know your life was hard, but now you have to let others in" Kakashi said firmly, knowing the situation was not one to be taken lightly.

"You know nothing of my past or my life. I have lived 13 years of my life alone just fine without any help from others. I have rid myself entirely of unconnected sentiments precisely because of that reason. I never had, don't have and never will have a place for others in my heart" Naruto replied so coldly that even Kakashi flinched.

"You mean not even Kurenai?" Kakashi retorted pointedly, causing Naruto to flinch.

He felt guilty for bringing someone he suspected was close to his isolated and detached core, but knew it was needed. Considering his hellish life, he wondered how Kurenai had even managed to befriend him, let alone make him give her a place in his heart.

Naruto stood frozen when Kakashi mentioned the one name he never though he would use. Just how he had even found about his friendship with the red eyed Jonin was a mystery, not to mention he somehow knew that she had actually managed to worm her way into his heart without him even realizing it.

Now that he was once again calm and composed, he realized he had been wrong about his promise to never let anyone have a place, considering that two of them had already taken it, namely Haku and Kurenai.

"Don't fight Zabuza tomorrow and wait for my arrival" Naruto said curtly and disappeared, leaving behind a teary eyed Inari and Tsunami, a confused but guilty Kakashi, two curious and pondering Genins and a depressed Tazuna to think over his words.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Next Morning**

"You are going to see that boy again, aren't you?" Zabuza asked suddenly, causing Haku to flinch and looked behind her. She had been hoping that he would be sleeping and she could just sneak out, but it seems luck was not on her side today.

"What do you mean?" she asked blankly, hoping she could at least convince him that she didn't know.

"Don't play dumb, I know all about your morning visits to that forest" Zabuza grunted.

He, at first had no knowledge of her friendship with the boy, but after witnessing her come back to the base glowing like a light, he had suspected something was wrong. Since then, he had played like he didn't know nor was suspicious and when he could move a little, he had followed her behind, far away to not be sensed and close enough to see where she had been going.

Imagine his surprise when she had met with the same boy who had been the cause of his defeat during the battle with Kakashi. He knew Haku would never betray him, and that was the only reason he had let her walk away without saying anything about it.

But now, he had to put his foot down, seeing as the time for the battle was upon them

Haku flinched slightly, knowing the cat was out of the bag. Zabuza saw the dejected expression and sighed inwardly "Haku, you better get your head back in the game. So, go and say your last goodbyes, because you'll be fighting that boy on the bridge whether you like it or not"

With that said, Zabuza turned around, no longer able to see the dejected and downcast expression on her face, and walked away in concealed sadness

Haku gave her mentor one last look of silent loyalty and walked away, intent to set things straight with Naruto in this last visit.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Wave Forest, A Few Minutes Later,**

The slight breeze of the early morning stirred Naruto awake from his tired slumber and unfortunately brought back the confusing emotions of the night before back to surface. Looking around, he felt guilty to see the absolutely scorched clearing which used to be a symbol of peace and sereneness for him and Haku, a home away from home, now nothing but a pile of ashes as a symbol of having fallen victim to his blind rage last night.

It seems his confused state of mind had triggered the seal of Kyuubi to release a bit of his Chakra, not voluntarily, but being forced by the seal. That little bit of malicious and vile Chakra had been enough to bring out his dormant lust for blood and battle, eventually the clearing had been the unfortunate victim of his rage.

Sliding himself to a sitting position, he leaned against a blackened stump, the only survivor of his rage, and looked at the clear blue sky in confusion.

Last night had been both fortunate and unfortunate at the same time. Fortunate because, during his rage induced state, nobody had been unfortunate enough to cross through the clearing or the forest as a whole, otherwise, they would have been shredded beyond recognition.

Unfortunate, because it had given him a new outlook regarding his control. If a few words or rather one name was enough to make him lose control of his composer, what would he do if something happened to the owner of that name?

Would he destroy the whole village during his rage, and in turn destroy everyone, innocent and guilty, within?

While he had been continuously exposed to the Kyuubi's Chakra after their deal, he still had trouble maintaining his conscious mind during his confused state of mind. It seems the problem had not been in the Chakra, but rather its sudden release into his own Pathways.

Kyuubi had tried endlessly to keep his Chakra restrained, but the seal of the Shinigami had proven itself worthy of its name and had continuously pumped more and more Chakra into his pools.

Overhearing the slight shuffling of feet, Naruto looked down and saw a downhearted Haku walking towards him, unmindful of the burned clearing. It seems her sadness had even robbed her of her awareness, something never to be neglected in the lives of Shinobi.

"Good morning Naruto. What had this poor clearing done to you to deserve being burned this badly?" she said teasingly with a soft smile, though the smile was not quite reaching her eyes.

"So Zabuza found out about your daily 'Search for Medical Herbs'" Naruto stated pointedly, causing Haku to give him an irritated look.

"You don't have to say it like that, you know"

"Am I wrong?" Naruto retorted calmly, ignoring her indignant statement.

She sighed dejectedly "No, you are right"

Well, this was it. She was going to come clean with her feelings.

"It doesn't matter" Naruto said dismissively as he stood up and dusted his long black cloak, causing Haku to look at him strangely, more like with a little bit of anger. What! He didn't care if her secret was found out?

"What do you mean?"

"Come with me"

Haku blinked in surprise when Naruto started walking away as she followed after him towards the Town. She was even more surprised when he reached their hideout and jumped up the roof like it was nothing. She followed after him confusingly, wondering what he wanted in their hideout or more precisely, Gato's Base.

"Listen to their conversation and you'll understand" Naruto cut her off before she could voice out her confusion.

Giving him a look of mock irritation, she looked down the ceiling glass and listened to the conversation between Zabuza and Gato, and much to her surprise and anger, his hidden contract with a group of common thugs.

'So that's what he was planning? He never meant to pay us in the end?' she thought angrily, oddly feeling relived that she wouldn't have to fight Naruto on the bridge.

Turning around with a fond smile, she saw Naruto standing on the edge of the building, with his back to her, black cloak fluttering in the wind "Haku, we'll have time to talk later, but now I think you should go to the bridge and stop the fight between Kakashi and Zabuza. I'd already warned Kakashi not to fight, but still, it's better to be safe than sorry"

Naruto disappeared into thin air towards Tazuna's house without saying anything else. Haku sighed fondly and with one uncharacteristic giggle of happiness, disappeared towards the bridge.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Tazuna's House**

"Leave my mother alone!"

Inari shouted to the two thugs holding his mother captive. They had been having a normal breakfast, except that Naruto hadn't shown up today to take his grandpa to the bridge, when these two thugs had appeared on their doors.

Her mother had mistaken them for Naruto and had run to the door to open it, only for them to grab her and drag her outside.

"Shut it kid, we ain't here to take ya, we'll just take your mother as hostage if ya don't mind" one of the thugs retorted mockingly while the other let out a chuckle.

"If I were you, I would be running like crazy" the second said with an arrogant grin.

Tsunami gave her son a pleading look, begging him to not put his life in jeopardy for her.

"And if I were you, I would silently let the young lady go before something unpleasant happened"

Her eyes widened when a familiar voice sounded from behind them, causing the thugs to let go of her and jump forward with their swords drawn. She turned around and saw the ever strikingly scary visage of the tall Genin standing there in his black cloaked glory "N-naruto"

The two thugs glared at the tall intruder "Who the hell are you?"

The glared even harder when the tall man ignored them and turned towards the mother and son duo "Why don't you get inside the house, I doubt you would find what I am about to do, pleasant"

Tsunami nodded gratefully and ran for the front gate, taking a shocked Inari's hand and dragging him with her inside the house.

The thugs didn't even bother stopping them from entering the house, since they were already assured of their victory. This black cloak wearing freak wouldn't even know what hit him.

Seeing as the mother and son were safe, Naruto gestured for the two thugs with a 'come here', angering them even further as they rushed without even thinking of the slight steam rising from the water. As soon as they reached the tall man, an enormous wall of fire surrounded them like the mighty walls of a fortress.

"W-what!?"

"W-what the hell is this!?"

"You should feel honored, you are the first of many miserable victims to be burned in this fire" Naruto declared coldly, not at all bothered by the heat of the giant walls of fire surrounding the two now screaming and melting thugs.

A few seconds later, he dismissed the walls of flames and walked away, leaving behind a puddle of melted flesh and bones.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Bridge**

Naruto arrived at the fog covered bridge and witnessed the predictable sight of Kakashi reading his novel, Zabuza cleaning his giant sword, Tazuna looking around dumbly and Sakura gazing at the sight of a dome made of Ice anxiously.

"So I take it, Sasuke challenged Haku to a fight even though I said not to?" he asked rhetorically when he reached the middle, catching their attention with his words as well as his presence.

Kakashi gave him a look that clearly said 'we'll talk later' which he ignored conveniently while Tazuna simply gave him a welcoming smile.

He didn't even blink when Sakura didn't notice his presence, seeing as she was focused on the fight inside the dome.

Zabuza on the other hand was grinning from ear to ear "So, the mastermind finally appears in the show"

"I see that your sense of humor is as bad as ever, old man" Naruto retorted, causing him to twitch in anger, but composed himself "I think I will see what is taking Haku so long to defeat a measly Genin"

Kakashi gave his enigma Genin a slight glare, causing him to raise an eyebrow behind his mask "You shouldn't say that about your teammate"

He ignored Kakashi and walked towards the dome of Ice unhurriedly, quietly slipping inside to see the Uchiha being tossed around like a ragdoll by Haku.

"Haku, stop playing with him" he said calmly, causing Sasuke to growl in anger at the sudden appearance of his tall teammate.

"What the hell are you doing here, loser?" he asked arrogantly, hoping to rile Naruto to a fight.

"It's amusing coming from you, considering that you haven't even landed a single blow from what I can see" the tall Jinchuriki retorted blankly.

Haku gave the tall Genin a look of amusement "I was bored, fortunately he was in the mood to provide me with some entertainment"

"Sorry to disturb your fun, Haku, but the scumbag Gato is about to arrive"

She sighed in resignation "Fine"

Sasuke didn't even have time to blink before a Senbon connected with his neck, causing him to drop to the ground in a meaty thud while Haku and Naruto walked out of the dome without care in the world, though Naruto did raised an eyebrow behind his mask when he saw the slight transformation of the Uchiha's eyes before he dropped unconscious.

"I think you did more bad than good" Naruto stated uncaringly, referring to the awakening of the Sharingan. He could practically feel the upcoming storm of arrogance from the Uchiha boy.

"SASUKE-KUNNN"

Naruto winced when the loud shriek reached his sensitive ears, courtesy of Sakura while Haku gave him a sympathetic look "How do you even endure that much noise?"

"Why do you think I sleep outside?"

Haku let out a loud giggle when she detected a slight hint of irritation in his voice.

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Gato and his hired thugs stepped out of the ship and climbed up the makeshift ladders to the top of the bridge where Zabuza and his companion would be fighting. As soon as they reached the top of the bridge, they witnessed half of the bridge obscured in an unnervingly calm mist.

Gato smirked in a self-satisfied manner, knowing he would be killing two Missing-nins and even getting the bounties on their heads. Who would be stupid enough to hire someone so expensive when they could just take care of the same task by some lowly thugs?

His smirk widened, thinking of ways to torture that insolent witch's cold and bloody corpse for breaking his arm. She would pay for ever raising her hand against him, let alone breaking his hand.

He was just about to shout and announce his presence when the mist slowly cleared, he grinned even wider in anticipation, knowing he would see at least a few corpse laying on the ground from both sides. His eyes widened when he saw both the Leaf Ninja as well as his hired Assassins standing together like a team, except he failed to see the two kids, a boy and a girl.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"He is here" Naruto announced coldly, sensing the presence of the scumbag and his hoodlums. His senses were practically bleeding from detecting so much despicable and revolting intentions.

The team as well as Zabuza and Haku nodded, though Zabuza looked a little disgruntled to be told what he already knew, but went along with it considering the blond was the cause of all this non-violent situation.

If it hadn't been for him, he and Haku would've been betrayed and possibly killed.

With a grunt of annoyance, Zabuza dismissed the thick mist, clearing the way for Gato to see the consequences of his betrayal. He relished in the wide expression of the maggot businessman when he realized that he was alive and healthy.

"Zabuza! What are doing? I gave you a job and you are standing here with them like nothing is going on" Gato exclaimed angrily, trying to cover his betrayal, at least for a little bit longer, until they dropped their guards.

Zabuza gave the team a withering look, especially Naruto and released a bit of his killing intent to properly get his point across "Gato is mine, you can have the rest"

Kakashi didn't have any problem with that particular declaration, seeing as he could just read his book and the problem would be solved without any bloodshed on his part.

Naruto, on the other hand, had problem with that announcement and released a bit of his own Killing intent, surprising Zabuza, Haku and Kakashi by its sheer weight and intensity "You can have the rest of the scumbags, Gato will be punished by the people of this town"

Zabuza grinned in a bloodthirsty manner "It seems we have a bit of a problem, Blondie. Why don't we see who gets to him first"

He could've sworn he felt the slight feeling of bloodlust from the rigid posture of the masked boy and knew he had just made things interesting "I accept you challenge. We go on three"

Haku stepped back with a sigh, not really comfortable with taking lives, let alone actually betting on it "I think I'll stay behind"

"Me too" Kakashi agreed.

"Suit yourselves, you are missing out on all the fun" Zabuza snorted dismissively at the two non-violent Ninjas "You ready Blondie?"

Gato, seeing the sight of their alliance and their ready posture gave his bloodthirsty goons the 'go' sign and ran for the back of the group, knowing his hired thugs would take care of them.

The thugs, armed with different weapons let out loud shouts of approval and ran for the two ready Shiniobi.

"One"

The bridge underneath the feet of the thugs trembled from their sheer number.

"Two"

The thugs kept getting near and near with each passing second, and the smirk on Zabuza's face kept getting wider and wider with each step, while Naruto simply stood like a statue, his entire body covered in the black cloak.

"Three!"

Kakashi and Haku gazed on at the speeding duo towards the approaching army of thugs with different expressions on their resigned faces.

Haku was giving her bloodthirsty mentor a look of silent plea to at least kill with some mercy, seeing as he was cutting the thugs in the wrong places purposely to prolong their suffering. All the while grinning like a mad scientist ready to dissect a poor sap or a kid in a candy shop.

Naruto on the other hand was using Flashstep and dancing around the thugs like the peaceful fluttering of ribbons in the wind, simply snapping their necks or poking their pressure points, leaving behind a path of corpses and speeding towards the shivering Gato.

Kakashi was stuck between being proud of the efficient way and the amazing speed with which Naruto was disposing of the thugs and being disturbed of the fact that he didn't have any uncertainties or useless reservations regarding taking lives.

Had he really become that apathetic to the matters of the world?

In a matter of moments, the army of thugs were either laying on the ground bleeding badly, laying dead around without any visible indication of injuries or simply fleeing for their lives. Naruto gave the bloodthirsty Mist-nin a look of silent challenge and disappeared towards the shivering Gato.

Zabuza grinned in anticipation as he saw the look of challenge, and with one swing of his sword, cut the thug in half and sped towards Gato, not wanting to lose to a Genin. His eyes widened when Naruto appeared in front of the shivering Gato and lifted him by the neck.

Damn, that kid was fast!

Naruto gave the approaching Ninja a look akin to smugness "I believe I won our little bet"

Zabuza just grunted and walked back to the group, grumbling about 'fast Gakis' and 'no manners' while Haku let out a soft giggle upon seeing the disgruntled look on her mentor's face and the strange and frankly twisted bond of camaraderie .

Satisfied with the reaction, Naruto turned around and gazed at the struggling and shivering Gato so coldly, that he felt as if the blond was staring at his very twisted soul "Now, what should I do with you?"

"P-please let me go. I-I will give you a-anything you want" Gato pleaded pathetically, feeling a little bit of hope upon seeing the pondering posture and slight tilting of his head.

"Well then, I want you to bring back all the people you have killed since you came here, return them back to their families and give them everything you have" Naruto said blankly.

Gato lost the tiny beacon of hope and resigned himself to the consequences of his actions, knowing he couldn't just bring the dead back to life. Who would have thought that he, the Great and mighty Gato would end this way?

"As much as I would like to tear a tiny bit of your flesh every five seconds and feed it to you, then burn you alive till your entire body is nothing but blackened ash" Naruto said coldly while Gato shivered at the mental picture of that threat "However, your justified punishment will be delivered by the resentful inhabitants of this land"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the sound of loud roars and shouting reverberated throughout the area, the bridge trembling under their feet as the scene of all the villagers with Inari and Tsunami leading them appeared in the far end of the bridge.

Tazuna's eyes turned misty when he witnessed the unity of his formerly broken fellow villagers, armed with different weapons as they ran after the remaining thugs while some remained on the bridge.

Naruto walked towards the mob and dragged the struggling Gato with him by his foot, until he reached in front of them. The villagers gazed at the tall Genin with pride and amazement as he dragged the tyrannical businessman towards them with confidence and conviction.

"People of wave, as token of my sympathy in regards to the depth of your pain, I present to you the object of your resentment and hatred" Naruto announced blankly and threw the screaming Gato into the midst of the angry mob, gazing at the brutal way they kicked, punched, slashed and pierced him without any feeling of remorse.

After venting their anger on him, the other villagers dragged the bloody but still living body of Gato to the center of the village, only Tazuna and Tsunami remained. Even Inari joined in to vent his anger on the scumbag, for killing his father right in front of him.

Tsunami walked towards Naruto with a soft and fond smile on her face, and without warning enveloped him a bone crushing hug which surprised Naruto once again "Thank you Naruto, for both saving me and Inari as well as our nation"

"It was a part of mission" Naruto replied without even flinching.

"Don't pretend that you don't care or deny that you didn't felt sorry for the children of this Town. I heard the children of the town talking about a black cloaked angel giving them food and tucking them in for the night" Tsunami said firmly, causing Naruto to stiffen.

What she said was right. She had been hearing rumors about a black cloaked angel rescuing children and finding them a place to live. There was no one wearing a black cloak except Naruto, and frankly not many were as tall as the children had described the angel to be.

The description of the angel matched Naruto's from A to Z.

"I know you may have heard this many times, but sometimes you have to let others in to ease your pain"

With those parting words, Tsunami walked away towards her house, not keen on seeing the brutal but totally justified slaying of Gato. She may be a first class hater of his tyrannical rule, but she was still a woman who couldn't handle the brutality of a vengeful human.

Haku totally agreed with the woman, though she couldn't help but wonder what her relationship was with Naruto. She was surprised to feel a little bit of resentment towards that woman, even though she didn't know why.

Zabuza sighed in exasperation when he watched his subordinate or secretly surrogate daughter looking a little irritated due to that Tsunami woman's sudden show of affection towards the blond. Honestly, teens these days! More worried about their love life than their training.

"If you are so worried about him, then why don't just hug him already" he said in annoyance, causing Haku to turn her head towards him so fast, he feared she would break her neck and actually glare at him, slight dusting of pink on her mask-less face.

"W-what?" she asked in irritation, wondering how he even knew about her feelings.

Before Zabuza could open his mouth and embarrass her even further, Naruto walked towards them silently. Kakashi had moved towards his two other students and was currently listening to Sakura going on and on about how great Sasuke was for defeating that masked Nin.

"Zabuza, I know you are trying to gather enough funds to help your rebels friends back in Mist, so in accordance with that, I have an offer for you" Naruto said in his monotone voice, causing Zabuza to give Haku a look that clearly said 'seriously' "Before you start blaming her, I should inform you that she didn't tell me anything"

"Well then, let's hear this offer" Zabuza replied curiously, wondering what the blond had in mind.

"With Gato dead, all his wealth falls into the hands of the people of Wave. Some of that wealth will used to pay Konoha for the success of the mission and the rest will go to Wave. However, I may be able to convince Mr. Tazuna to give you a third of Gato's total wealth"

"WHAT?"

Naruto blinked and tilted his head to the side "You didn't hear me?"

Zabuza gave the blond a look of disbelief "I heard you, but are ya sure kid? Gato is freaking wealthy"

"Yes I know that, that's why I am offering you only a third of the total. That much money should be able to help your rebel friends" Naruto retorted calmly "Perhaps in time, I may even come to your aid"

Zabuza gave the enigmatic blond a look of curiosity and interest while Haku simply smiled a fond smile "Why would you want to leave your peaceful life and purposely throw yourself into the horrors of war?"

"That's none of your business" he replied curtly, causing Zabuza to face-fault.

Zabuza slowly regained his composer and glared at the tall Genin "You know kid; you are one big nasty pain in the ass"

Though he didn't want to show it, the offer had pretty much made him light-headed. With that much money, he would be able to return back to mist and properly aid his friends to finally take over Mist from that tyrannical Mizukage.

"So?" Naruto asked blankly, waiting for the answer in regards to his offer.

"I accept your gracious offer" Zabuza retorted with a wide grin, causing Haku to sigh in relief, knowing they won't be on the run for the rest of their lives.

"I'll talk with Mr. Tazuna then" Naruto said shortly and walked away towards the approaching and smiling Tazuna while Haku and Zabuza watched silently.

The two started talking, even though they couldn't hear them, they had a feeling Tazuna won't be able to deny him.

"No wonder you like him" Zabuza said suddenly, causing Haku to blush in embarrassment as she palmed her face to hide her atomic blush.

Zabuza grinned when he saw her blush and looked towards the approaching Naruto, who had finished his seemingly fruitful conversation with Tazuna, seeing as the man give him a friendly pat on the back and walked away with a beaming smile on his face.

"Congratulations, it seems Mr. Tazuna was more than happy to gift you a third of Gato's wealth seeing as how you helped in freeing the nation as well" Naruto announced blankly, causing Zabuza and Haku to sigh in relief.

"Well then, Kid, this is goodbye until we meet again in the war. But before I go, let me tell that even as Shinobi, we are still human, regardless of our denial. Don't feel hesitant to let others in" Zabuza said softly, a total opposite of his usual bloodthirsty self.

"That remains to be seen" Naruto replied dismissively "However I have something for you as well. Tell Haku what you truly feel for her"

Haku gave her mentor a confused look who looked like he had swallowed a lemon, wondering what Naruto meant by that. Silence reign over the bridge after the utterance of those words.

Seeing as the silence was becoming uncomfortable, Haku asked the one question she had been dying to ask ever since she had met the blond "Naruto, before we go, can you show me your face?"

That had been the one question she had been dying to find the answer for. What did he look like under that expressionless mask?

Naruto raised his hand self-consciously towards his masked covered face and stiffened at the request. Why did she have to ask that?

Even Zabuza was interested to see what was behind that mask, considering that anyone who wore a mask often had something to hide from the world.

"I'm sorry but my face is not something you would like to look at" Naruto answered curtly, hoping she would drop the subject. Unfortunately, he had no such luck.

"Please!"

Zabuza gave the struggling tall Genin a look of amusement, seeing him stuck between wanting to preserve his identity and not wanting to deny her anything after seeing those puppy dog eyes.

Guess the kid never had seen a woman use that fearsome Jutsu.

Naruto was indeed stuck between two options. One, he could simply deny her and walk away, causing her to give him that disappointed and hurtful look which would shatter his resolve and cause him to rethink his decision. Two, he could show her but risk seeing her face full of fear after seeing his face.

He couldn't even make the excuse that someone else might see his face, considering the bridge was empty since Kakashi and his two Genins had retreated back to the house to get some rest.

"I suppose there is no harm in showing you" he said rhetorically, still unsure whether he should show it or not.

Damn, this was confusing!

Sighing in annoyance, Naruto reached for his face and slowly pulled off his mask while Zabuza and Haku watched in anticipation. This was it!

Haku's heart was practically bouncing in her chest cavity, threatening to burst free as the mask slowly came off. Her heart thumped even louder when the mask was pulled off and the only thing keeping her from seeing his face was the shadow casted due to his hood.

The moment Naruto raised his head, Zabuza and Haku gasped in shock, though for different reasons. Haku couldn't believe he looked like that under his mask, though she supposed his outside personality was but a reflection of his inside as well as his eyes. Still, she didn't care what he looked like, he was still the guy who had unknowingly stolen her heart.

Zabuza was barely restraining himself from shivering. He had seen many things in his life considering that the title 'Demon' wasn't just given to anyone, however this was just scary.

Naruto pulled his mask over his face after he witnessed their expression "Satisfied?"

Haku and Zabuza nodded in affirmative, still getting over their shock.

"Then, I believe I can trust you to keep the details of my appearance with yourselves?" Naruto said blankly, getting vigorous nods.

"Well until next time kid. Haku, meet me in Gato's base after you are done" Zabuza said knowingly, seeing the look on Haku's face. It seems she needed some alone time with him to clear things.

Seeing Zabuza walk away, Haku looked at the tall boy with a small smile "Can you show me your face once again?"

Naruto blinked, not having expected that kind of request, considering the fact that she had already seen it once "I just showed you"

"I know, i… just want to see it again" Haku said dismissively, hoping he would take the bait.

"As you wish"

He still wasn't sure why she asked about something that she had already seen but complied nonetheless as he pulled off his mask once again, only for his eyes to widen in shock and disbelief when a pair of lips crashed with his own, causing them both to stumble to the ground with Naruto taking the brunt of the impact.

He didn't know how long it lasted, but he was sure it was for an hour or so, though he could be wrong. Still, that was the least of his problem. His mind had rebooted several times during the kiss, only to shut down again, due to insufficient knowledge in the matter.

At long last, it stopped and Haku pulled herself from his body, blushing a storm as she tried to say something that would justify her action, only to come up with a blank. She looked at Naruto from the shadow of her eyelashes and saw his cutely confused look.

In the end, she mustered up enough courage to control her thumping heart and blushing face as she gave him one last hug "Naruto, I know you may not understand what I just did and why I did it, but maybe someday when you do understand, you can return it. Until then, stay safe and remember me"

With that done, she walked away with small tears streaming down her face, knowing she won't be able to see him until and unless he came to their aid in the war, leaving an incredibly confused Naruto behind.

He may not understand human emotions that much, but even he knew a peck on the lips meant romantic interest, granted that wasn't a peck, more like a make out session, but still. Just what had he gotten himself into?

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AN: hope you enjoyed it. If there are any mistakes, either ignore them or point it out to me.

Review.


	7. Chapter 7: Meeting And Offer

**Disclaimer= I don't own Naruto or Techniques from any other anime etc.**

Answers to reviews,

 **Truefeeling** : Thanks bro!

 **Lara5170** : You know you are awfully fixated on his face? And not telling you what is under that mask makes me kinda feel like a mad scientist taking some kind of twisted pleasure in torturing his subjects! However to ease your troubled mind, let me just say that he is not ugly, littered with scars or have fox ears or anything else.

 **Xypher1** : You know what bro? You are actually becoming one of my favorite readers who actually appreciate my work and take the time to voice his thoughts about it, not that the others don't. So thanks.

As for your unintended question, yes you guessed correct. Kurenai is going to be paired with him! However the steps towards their eventual relationship will be slow and gradual. Secondly, yes, many of the other girls will feel some sort of attraction towards him due to his power and looks and man Kurenai will be absolutely thunderous! While Naruto will most likely be confused about the whole situation! As for your curiosity in regard to Naruto's face, let me just say that all the secrets lays in his eyes. Hint Hint.

 **One Punch Saitama** : Thanks. The Summon is a ….. Secret!

 **LazydreamerShark** : How many times do I have to say it!? Yes I made a mistake and will correct it in time!

 **Lezaroth** : Yes I know, but I have a reason for forming the Civilian Council. Also, that 'because he was Naruto Uzumaki dammit' was just for comedy purpose.

 **Animecollecter** : Nice try, but nope!

 **DBZxskyfall** : I never said anything about 'Demon appearance'!?

 **Guest** : The fox is back in the Namikaze Compound in Konoha.

 **Guest** : You can relax bro; this is not a harem story.

 **Dnck** : Now you are talking dude! That's what I like to hear. I give you 100 points for that comment alone!

 **Guest** : Yes I know what they are called. I was just saying that Sasuke was given more power than Naruto who happens to be the FREAKING main character! Just watch the last battle between Naruto and that emo and you will see what I mean.

 **Six** **Foot** **Assassin** : That was what all that rant was about! Sasuke should have been given less power as compared to Naruto who is the main character. And I know what they are called!

 **DaemonWing** : Thanks for the suggestions bro, they are wonderful but I'm afraid I have already chosen a summon for him. Sorry!

 **DominoNamikaze2010** : Yes I know. I will correct it when I have time.

 **Winner of the previous Question (No one!)**

 **Question of the day(** **A man makes a claim that he can predict the exact score of every football game, before it begins. And he's always right. How's that possible?** **)**

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 **Konoha, Two Days Later**

The team consisting of three Genins and one Jonin walked towards the front gates of the great village in a tension filled silence. It had been two days since their departure from Wave. After assisting Zabuza and Haku with their financial problem, Naruto had created an enormous amount of clones to speed up the construction of the bridge with the instruction of Tazuna.

Tazuna had been immensely grateful for the help and had taken great use of his clones. In the end, the bridge had reached its eventual fruition faster than anticipated. Imagine his surprise when the people of Wave had named the bridge after him as a token of their gratitude.

What had surprised him even more had been the fact that they had started to build a statue of his likeness in the center of the village and proclaimed him as the 'Hero of Wave'. He saw no reason for such an honor to be bestowed upon him, considering that he had only done his duty.

Sasuke had apparently heard of the statue's creation and had thrown a fit, demanding one for himself. It had been amusing to see the formerly hopeless residents of the village glare so hard at the Uchiha that Naruto thought he would burst into flames and to see the aforementioned arrogant boy shrink under their gazes like a puppy.

Their departure had been one major headache. Tsunami and Inari had actually shed some tears upon his departure which had confused him. He had to make a promise that he would visit one day, otherwise they wouldn't have left him alone.

The entire population had come to witness the departure of their Hero from their land. Their enthusiastic and warm words had stirred some unfamiliar sensations in the pit of his stomach. He had squished those thoughts and sensation mercilessly to avoid any more confusion at the time. His mind could only handle so much confusion!

Sasuke and Sakura had openly expressed their displeasure regarding Naruto receiving all the praises and rewards while Kakashi had simply smiled at his Sensei' enigmatic and stoic son. He felt nothing but pride to see that his Sensei's son was walking down the same path his Sensei had gone, the path towards greatness and strength.

Coming back to the tension filled air around the team, it could be because of the different moods of the team members. Kakashi was nonchalantly reading his novel, letting out an occasional perverted giggle while walking at the back of the group, occasionally giving his Sensei's son a curious look.

Sakura was either glaring at the tallest of their group or staring at her crush lovingly. She was glaring at the tall Genin because her crush was glaring at him and that was more than enough reason for her to glare as well.

Sasuke was glaring at the blond's head as if wishing it to suddenly burst into flames. After awakening his Sharingan, he had challenged the blond to a match. He had been hundred percent sure that he would win considering he had the ultimate Dojutsu of the Uchiha Clan. However, he had been wrong.

The blond had beaten him without even moving from his place, yet he could still feel the heaviness of his monstrous fists or rather the heaviness of his backhand. He had tried to copy his movements only to see absolute darkness surrounding the blond instead of Chakra. He had been told that everyone had a blue aura surrounding them, yet he had seen nothing but blackness around the tall Genin.

It was humiliating! He was an Uchiha Elite! With his Sharingan, he should've been able to even keep up with the likes of Kakashi, let alone a mere Genin!

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 **Flashback**

"Fight me!"

Naruto turned an uninterested glance at the glaring Uchiha, as if asking 'are you kidding me?' They had just exited the boundaries of Wave and were on their way to the Leaf. Sasuke had been glaring at him non-stop for reason unknown and frankly it was starting to annoy him. Looking at his red face of anger, he realized with amusement that the Uchiha was apparently jealous.

That would explain his glares and frowns.

Kakashi sighed tiredly, already knowing what would happen next. Honestly, he was surprised it took this long for Sasuke to challenge the blond, considering the tense situation. He already knew the result. He just hoped that Naruto would take it easy on the Uchiha.

Sakura was looking pleadingly at her crush, hoping that he would reconsider his decision of fighting the blond. Sasuke had been unconscious during the massacre on the bridge so he hadn't seen the way Naruto had disposed of those thugs. She had been shivering non-stop in his presence, afraid that she would be targeted next if she spoke the wrong words.

"Pardon?"

"I said fight me!" Sasuke repeated forcefully and gritted his teeth in anger at having to repeat his own words.

"Why?" Naruto asked carelessly and kept his calm stride on the road while Sasuke followed in anger.

"I'll beat you!"

"Why?"

"Because I have the Sharingan now!" Sasuke answered in even more anger. This continuous array of questions was getting on his nerves.

Kakashi and Sakura tensed when Naruto halted in the middle of the road and turned around menacingly. They could've sworn they saw an aura of fire surround his body for a second before it disappeared without a trace.

Sasuke smirked in a self-satisfied manner, pleased that he had 'convinced' the blond to a fight. With his Sharingan awakened, the blond wouldn't even know what hit him!

"Is that so?" Naruto commented lightly and fully turned around.

Kakashi was surprised to detect a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Yes! I'm an Uchiha Elite! A clan less loser like you has no right to possess such power" the black haired Uchiha retorted smugly and eyed the motionless blond.

"So you do admit that I have more power than you?" the blond Jinchuriki asked amusingly.

Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger, realizing that he had said far too much. Without saying a word, he dashed forward and released a combination of fists and kicks while Naruto dodged the frantic attacks effortlessly. What was frustrating him more than the blond's effortless dodging of his attacks, was that he could feel clear amusement rolling off of the blond.

His eyes widened when a heavy backhand sent him flying towards a tree like a bug. Kakashi and Sakura couldn't help but think that this challenge was going a bit too far. Sasuke slowly stood up, wincing in pain when his body protested the slightest of movements. That backhand felt as if he had been kicked by a Tailed Beast! He stood on wobbly feet and wiped away the blood from his cheek with anger.

Taking a kunai and a few shuriken from his holster, he ran towards the blond once again and released the throwing stars, hoping for a distraction. Naruto dodged the flying shuriken with a swift sidestep and raised a black gloved hand to block the kunai.

"What!" the black haired boy shouted in surprise.

'He blocked the kunai with his hand!?' Kakashi thought in surprise. Looking closely, he realized that the kunai was blocked by a black glove and judging from the slight shine on its surface, he was sure it was metal 'So he wears metal gloves on his hands?'

Gritting his teeth in frustration and anger, Sasuke jumped back and went through a couple of hand signs.

 **Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu**

Seeing the scorching fireball flying towards the still Naruto, Kakashi moved to stop the battle but was too late as the ball of fire struck the blond and lit the clearing in a brilliant show of fire. The trees and grass caught fire and started burning while smoke rose up to the sky above and loomed over the clearing like a predator looming over its prey.

"Sasuke! You went too far!" Kakashi said in anger and waited for the smoke and fire to subside so that he could see what had become of his Sensei's son. He swore that if a single hair on his student was misplaced, he would teach the smug Uchiha who had trained him during his childhood!

"That would teach him not to fight with an Uchiha Elite!" Sasuke replied without a care in the world. Who cared if a nameless and clan less loser was dead?

The three members of Team 7 stiffened when a tall silhouette of a man appeared in the midst of the inferno and walked through the fire like a demon of hell. The silhouette walked out of the fire and stood in front of the group with a scratch on his cloak.

"Is this all? You challenge me to a battle and then expect to win with just a Fire Style Technique? I feel insulted" Naruto commented coldly, standing in front of the still burning trees and grass like a statue.

Sasuke and Sakura couldn't believe their eyes. How could someone survive a point blank fireball attack, let alone survive without a scratch on his body?

Kakashi, although more surprised than his two Genins since he knew the true destructive potential of the Fireball Jutsu, couldn't help but be curious on how the blond had survived the attack with no injuries. He was giving him more questions each passing second than answers!

Sasuke screamed in anger and activated his famed Sharingan, intent on dealing with the insolent blond for daring to defy an Uchiha.

"W-what!? What the hell is this!?" He asked in shock and stepped back in fright, closing his eyes to shield them before they went blind.

The blond was surrounded by blackness, all around his body like a second skin and oozing off of him in waves. That was not possible! Chakra was supposed to be blue not black! Why couldn't he see his Chakra or his hands or his body for that matter!?

Kakashi was surprised by the Uchiha's sudden scream of fright and activated his Sharingan hidden underneath the fabric of his Headband. Seeing the suffocating and terrifying aura of darkness surrounding the blond, he could certainly understand the boy's reason for screaming in fear. That aura of death was something from a horror movie!

"Did you actually believe that I wouldn't have a way to render your bloodline null and void before fighting you?"

Naruto vanished from his spot and appeared behind the still black haired boy -who was too busy rubbing his eyes to notice the blond- and delivered a slight tap to his collar bone, rendering him unconscious.

The Uchiha dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes before Naruto's feet in a meaty thud. Naruto calmly kneeled near the Uchiha and cautiously took a syringe to take a little bit of blood from the unaware boy. Pocketing the now full syringe, Naruto checked the boy's neck in order to make it seem like he was concerned about his health.

Kakashi and Sakura walked towards the down Uchiha, well Kakashi walked while Sakura released an annoyingly loud scream of horror and sprinted towards her crush. Seeing as his team members were distracted, Naruto took out a small scroll and conspicuously put the syringe in its protective embrace, sealing it away for further use.

His fascination with the Uchiha's Bloodline had developed as soon as he had heard about it from Itachi. Since then, he had strived to learn everything it stood for. Unfortunately, Itachi slaughtered the Clan, thus the Uchiha Compound fell into the hands of the hungry Council. The Council assigned several squads of Danzo's Anbu to watch over its secrets.

That little setback had not deterred him from his goal in the slightest. He had dived even further into the Sealing Art to prepare himself for a possible confrontation with Itachi. He never would've thought that his Stasis Seal would come in handy in a situation like this. He hadn't exactly tested it on an animate object, but it seems he would have to find out.

If the seal succeeded, he would have a whole lot of information about the Sharingan and how to possibly have one. But if it didn't, then he could always take some more blood from the Uchiha boy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Flashback End**

Since that battle, the black haired was glaring at him venomously, since that was the only thing he could do at the moment. He would demand special training from Kakashi the moment they delivered their report!

Naruto was walking at the front of the group without a care in the world, not the least bit bothered by the glares directed at him from behind. He would've been impressed had they attacked him instead of glaring. It only pointed out to the fact that they were weak and unable to take action in order to change his opinion of them.

At least he had gotten a souvenir from the smug Uchiha in that battle, not that the black haired would know.

Kakashi let out a tired and relived sigh when the giant and magnificent gates of the Leaf Village came into their field of vision. It was good to be back home where he could relax and find the answer to his ever increasing list of questions regarding the tall enigmatic blond.

Reaching the front gate, the two Eternal Chunins stepped into their path

"Well, how was the mission Kakashi? Heard that you had a run in with Zabuza Momochi?" Izumo asked pleasantly, though they could see that he was barely keeping his mind together. Naruto almost felt sympathy for them. He would rather kill himself than do guard duty!

"Yes, it went well for the most part. Sorry, but we need to report to Lord Hokage right away" Kakashi replied in a bored voice and watched the retreating figure of his enigmatic and quite Genin curiously. It seems Naruto found no reason to engage in travail chit chat.

Izumo and Kotetsu nodded knowingly, well aware why Kakashi wanted to report so urgently to the Hokage, considering the man never reported early short of A rank or S rank mission. Naruto must have tired him out pretty badly for him to want to report early.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Hokage Office**

Hiruzen Sarutobi was sitting on his chair and watching the heartwarming sight of his people peacefully going about their lives. It was times like these which made the task of taking the Hokage hat again all worth. Seeing the cheerful smiles on the children's faces, the fond smiles of their parents watching them grow up and assured of their safety, knowing that their Hokage would protect them made all the worries of his past failures disappear from his tired shoulders.

If only for a little bit

Speaking of failures, he couldn't help but wonder what was happening with his surrogate grandson at the moment. Their relation had taken a major blow after their conversation in the Namikaze Compound and honestly he couldn't blame the blond for not interacting with him anymore.

He had made too many mistakes in his long life, yet the betrayal of Orochimaru and Naruto's breaking of his bond with him, were the greatest of his failures and mistakes. Had he been a little more forceful with the Council at the time of his ascension to Kage, he wouldn't be sitting here and regretting his mistakes.

Though he couldn't wonder what the blond truly held for him.

Was it resentment?

Anger?

Disappointment?

Either of the three was well within the blond's right to feel towards him since they were clearly justified. He often wondered if their relation would remain like this for the rest of his life. The mere consideration of that thought left a bad taste in his mouth. He would have the blond's forgiveness even if he had to grovel at his feet.

The rapid knocking on the door snapped him out of his thoughts, turning around the chair to look at the subject of his thoughts. The team entered the office with different expressions on their faces, except one who he couldn't see what he felt since he was wearing a mask.

"Ah Team 7! Welcome back to the village. I hope your mission went well?" He announced with a grandfatherly smile on his wizened face.

Kakashi looked sheepish "Well, it went well"

Sarutobi nodded knowingly and turned towards Naruto with a kind smile "Nice to see you again, my boy"

Naruto merely nodded in response, clearly aware of the man's face full of sorrow and sadness. He knew the old man truly felt sorry for his actions and was looking for a way to earn his forgiveness. He sympathized with the man and had already forgiven him, but that didn't mean he would make it easy for the man or tell him without even knowing the full extent of his regret.

Kakashi gave the downtrodden Hokage a look of pity, knowing the blond hurt the old man more than he would ever know. Or maybe he did!

"Alright Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, you have the rest of the day off, get some rest and well done on completing the mission" He praised with a strained smile of kindness.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura gave the Hokage a slight bow and walked out of the door without saying another word. Seeing as the others left, Sarutobi gave Kakashi a stern look "Alright Kakashi, Report! Leave nothing out!"

Kakashi sighed "On our way to Wave, two rogue Mist Nins attacked us, the 'Demon Brothers' to be more specific. It turned out that Mr. Tazuna was the target. Naruto killed one of the Mist Nin with a sword encased entirely of flames while I interrogated the other for some info"

"What do you mean by that?" Hiruzen asked with a raised eyebrow. Had he heard Kakashi right? A sword encased in flames? Could it be **that** sword?

"Yes. I didn't get the opportunity to see it entirely but I did witness its effectiveness. It turned the Mist-Nin into ashes in a matter of few seconds" Kakashi replied blankly while the Hokage's eyebrows raised slightly.

"I was there when Naruto found about his Affinities and admittedly it was an impressive sight to see. He must have trained hard to develop it to that degree. It is possible he had learned how to channel his Chakra into his sword" The old Hokage explained.

Kakashi shook his head in negative "No. Naruto said he had drawn several seals on the sword to convert the victim's Chakra against him"

The old man hummed in thought, not wanting to show his shock at the revelation. Had the blond become that adapt at Seals that he could accomplish such a feat? "Continue"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **An Hour Later**

Hiruzen sighed tiredly and leaned back on the chair to relax his tired boy. Kakashi had just delivered his report and had left to get some much needed sleep seeing as he hadn't received any answers to his questions. The report delivered had left many questions in his mind, questions he didn't know whether he wanted its answers or not.

The mystery of the flaming sword was easily solved. The sword was an ancient Heirloom of the Uzumaki Clan passed down from one Clan Head to the next for generations. Seeing as Naruto was the last Uzumaki known and son of Kushina, the princess of Whirlpool, he was the only logical choice to receive such an honor.

He had only heard legends of its greatness and devastating power, the only sword known to be able to rival the Tailed Beasts in power. If Naruto possessed such a sword, then he didn't even need to train to kill his enemies. However, knowing Naruto, he would rather discard the sword if its requirements were not to train.

Coming back to the matter at hand, Kakashi had reported that Naruto had used a Technique in continuous succession in order to kill the various thugs.

On one hand, he could somehow chalk that speed up to Guy's insane training regimen. But on the other hand, he couldn't ignore the slight feeling of suspicion upon hearing that he had moved far too fast to be considered simple speed and had used it continuously without appearing tired.

He could certainly understand his strength since he had seen Guy's normal blows and punches form spider web cracks in the earth. Considering that Naruto had trained with him since he was 7, he could certainly believe the fact that Naruto had sent Sasuke Uchiha flying with a simple backhand.

The fact that he had a found a way to render the abilities of the Sharingan was impressive and alarming at the same time. Impressive that he had become that much adapt in the Art of Sealing to come up with such a handy idea. Alarming that with so much little info on his abilities as well as his reluctance to reveal any more, how much more secrets did he really have?

His cold analytic skills and right call of judgment had made him proud beyond belief. It only pointed towards the fact that Naruto was following in his father's footstep to one day become the most powerful Hokage of the Leaf and a living legend in the Shinobi World.

Resolving a conflict without the use of any violence and bloodshed was the sign of strength and the trait of a leader concerned for the safety of his people even if he had to appear weak in the eyes of others. Considering his age, Hiruzen knew that even if he died now, he could certainly take solace in the fact that Naruto would lead Konoha towards the pinnacle of greatness.

In the end, he could only hope that Naruto would forgive him so that even if he died, he could move on peacefully without the burdens of his past failures weighing down upon his wizened shoulders.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Next Day, Early Morning**

The next day, Naruto woke up to the sight of his huge fox partner leaning over his bed like a predator looming over its prey. Its red slitted eyes bore into his with surprising intensity. Its blood red fur covered his body like a thick blanket while its tail swished behind it hypnotically.

He had been surprised by the violent greeting the fox had given him upon his arrival. It had attacked him as soon as he had entered the Namikaze Compound. After indulging in some welcomed wrestling with the almost horse sized fox, he had realized that the fox had been jealous for not being told to go with him on his mission.

That had been surprising!

In the end, he had calmed down the violent fox enough to make him understand that he had not been ready to follow him on his mission. Surprisingly, the fox had understood his words and had attempted to attack him one last time before sprinting off to his own makeshift house.

Naruto had the distinct feeling that the fox had been sulking.

It seems that it was ready to try and exact its revenge once more if the sheer intensity of its gaze was any indication. Naruto couldn't suppress the small smile creeping up his face when he thought about the fight the fox had put up. He hadn't realized that his companion would get so strong on its own simply because it was jealous.

If the strength it showed last night was any indication, Naruto knew that he would be taking his companion with him on missions a lot in the coming future.

The fox retracted and stood on all fours as if getting ready to attack while Naruto leisurely shook the sleep from his eyes, aware that even if the fox had grown even larger and stronger during his absence, it was still not strong enough to cause him any significant harm.

He raised an eyebrow in a rare show of surprise when, instead of attacking him, the large red fox bent low and lowered its large head on its front paw in servitude. He let a small smile grace his features at the show of apology and got up from the bed, slightly bending low to pet the fox's head in acceptance.

"It's alright I suppose. Though try not to welcome others with that kind of greeting" Naruto commented with a smile of amusement. His smile widened when the fox raised its head with a small growl of annoyance, though he could still see the slight glimmer of amusement in its red eyes "Well then, with that out of the way, let us refresh ourselves and then try out a new method of training"

The large fox let out a grunt of acceptance and walked out of the large room, knowing its master would need to shower first, have breakfast and then train, which meant more time for it to prepare itself for the possibly insane training method Naruto would no doubt put himself and it through.

An hour later, Naruto walked out of the house and strolled towards the training ground with his black cloak fluttering in the soft breeze of the early morning. The fox stood up abruptly from its position on the ground walked up to its master curiously, wondering what crazy idea he had concocted this time.

"In order for us to work perfectly with each other, we need to coordinate our attacks, know each other's movements. I know we have trained for almost three years, but that time is not nearly enough for my tastes. I need precise results" Naruto said calmly and sat cross legged on the ground, gesturing for the fox to stand in front of him "To achieve those perfect results, I have come up with a seal much like the Storage Seal, except this seal will not store our Chakra, it will seal almost 99 percent of our Chakra"

Naruto knew this training would hurt the fox a lot more than it would hurt him, considering that he had modified his body to the physical peak of perfection. If you had a body that could not be hurt easily or at all, then it would save you the troublesome task of waiting for your body parts to heal so that you could continue your battle.

The design of the seal was similar to that of the Storage Seal which was a pretty basic seal and could be drawn even by a beginner. However, the mechanics of the seal were different than that of the Storage Seal. As indicated from the name, the Storage Seal stores the Chakra of the wearer and could be released for further use should he/she need it.

This seal would seal off almost all of his Chakra, leaving enough for him to live but not enough to use any Jutsu. It was his opinion that Shinobi depended too much on the energy known as Chakra and thus had come up with this seal to clear himself of this weakness. He would never leave even a single weakness in his body if he had anything to say about it!

If his Chakra was sealed off, he would force his body to move regardless of its protest. Yes it would hurt, a lot! But if all went the way he wanted them to, then he would turn his companion to an unstoppable force of nature and transform his body to his Ultimate Shield!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Nine Hours Later, 4:00 Pm**

The soft breeze fluttered Naruto's heavy and long cloak like a fragile leave as he walked among the bustling streets of Konoha. There were many people out in the open and lively streets, some couples walking hand in hand without a care in the world, too lost in their own love-induced state. Some parents walking their children around the many shops and stalls, looking for something to satisfy their child's bottomless stomach

Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha with his large companion following closely behind, towards the training grounds. It had been quite some time since his last meeting with Kurenai and, despite hating to admit it, he wanted to see how she was doing, thus the walk towards the Training Ground 8.

Contrary to his thoughts about the end results of the new training method, it had hurt like hell! To think that just sealing off your energy would leave you lying on the ground like a puppet without strings. The pain! Oh the pain was almost unbearable! Just attempting to stand up had caused so many of his muscles to simply tear from exertion.

While he had known that it would be painful, he never thought it would be that painful! Simple pain didn't even begin to describe the sensation that he had felt. It was as if someone was pouring sizzling acid into his veins and leaving his body to burn from the inside out!

However, the results of such a brutal training method would be undeniably outstanding! He hadn't thought that simple Chakra exhaustion could leave you so vulnerable, so hopeless and without any means of defense. He refuse to let such a weakness led him astray from his path.

He let a small smirk of amusement and pride grace his masked covered features when he saw many villagers steer out of his way, all the while giving him and his large companion a look of fear. He couldn't really blame the villagers for fearing his companion, considering they hadn't seen it during his absence or even before that.

Its large and hulking stature-fur so red that it resembled blood and large orbs of crimson color flickering around in an alarming ferocity as if daring them to try and attack its master-looked as if it was a stray demon looking for its next miserable victim.

Not that his own huge height reduced their worries!

The walk up to the training ground was in comfortable silence, both companions enjoying the rare moment of nature showing its true colors. The soft breeze carried the alluring scents of the forest, a scent he had come to adore. It reminded him the many days and nights of training he had done in the Forest of Death.

The name gave credit to the actual condition of the forest. Setting aside the air of constant death lurking around in every corner, it was a peaceful place to train or even live. On his first few days in the deadly forest, the ferocious beast had proven quite problematic and stubborn in their desire to kill him for daring to enter their territory.

However, despite his reluctance to do so, he had no choice but to kill a few of the more daring ones to show them that he was a man of business and not to be taken lightly. That show of strength and power had pretty much convinced the beast to stay out of his way.

That Anko woman had proven to be quite the interesting sparring partner. Though he could've lived without her constant teasing.

Naruto arrived at the Training Ground 8 along with his hulking companion, seeing a deeply contemplating Kurenai sitting on log while watching her team spar. He jumped up a tree without a sound and calmly sat down to watch the show, signaling for his companion to stay behind a tree for now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The newly appointed red-eyed Jonin watch her team with pride and a sense of content. New Genins they may be, but their drive to become strong, their conviction to achieve greatness and their admirable love for their village would one day lead them to become a force to be reckoned with!

Shino was admittedly the strongest among the three Genins, not in the physical sense, but rather in the strategy department. His cold analytic skills and strategic mindset was his greatest asset. Even though he was rather weak in Taijutsu-not surprising since his clan preferred long range attacks rather than close and personal-his strategies and deceptive methods of attacking made him a formidable foe.

Kiba, despite his rather annoying habit of perversion and vulgar language, was rather aggressive in a fight just like his Clan. His fighting style mostly revolved around attacks coordinated with his companion, Akamaru. While his Taijutsu was great for someone of his age and rank, his aggressive behavior and volatile temper made him an easy prey against strategic opponents.

Hinata, on the other hand was strong in an awkward sort of way. Since her Clan used the Gentle Fist, a style founded by the Hyuuga's to target the Chakra Points of an enemy, she was flexible and agile. The Style was very fluid and needed flexibility of the highest order. However, despite all these advantages on her side, Hinata unfortunately lacked self-confidence.

The girl was far too kind to be a Shinobi!

A soft breeze blew over the clearing, carrying with it scents of the trees and flowers. However, one familiar scent caught her attention. While there were countless scents existing in the wide world, this particular scent belonged only to one man.

She stood up from log and looked around widely, hoping beyond hope she would see the one man she hadn't seen since that time at the Academy where she had picked her team. Looking over the many trees and endless landscape of grass, she couldn't help but feel downtrodden when she saw nothing but empty space.

Sighing to herself over her paranoid nature, she sat down once again and looked at the slightly red sky above with clear longing in her wine colored eyes. The sky was covered in specks of cloud here and there, lazily moving in the sky without any sense of worry or emotion.

She let a fond smile appear on her rose colored lips when the clouds seemingly gather around in groups, each group moving hypnotically in the sky, creating a part of a tall form. Her eyes widened in surprise when the gathered clouds took the form of a familiarly tall man, seemingly floating in the heavens while looking down at her fondly through his surprisingly still black mask.

'You can't just leave me in peace, can you?' She thought fondly and gazed at the gathered clouds intently.

The sitting sun in the horizon reminded her of her first meeting with Naruto. He had been meditating on the Fourth's head when she found him. At first, he hadn't made that much of an impression on her, but after exchanging a few words with him, she had become enamored with his calm and calculative nature.

His calm words of wisdom were far beyond the concept of a mere 10 year old. The way he spoke as if he had seen everything the world had to offer had captivated her. His curious tilt of head when confused had adored him to her. She had never thought that she would be captivated by a ten year old.

She had been surprised to hear that he was ten years old only. His height and broad body stature hadn't exactly presented that picture. I mean, come on. How many ten years old do you see who are taller than a 20 year old?

Since that meeting, she had made an extra effort to try and befriend him and was proud to say that she had befriended him to an extent.

His secretive and distant nature had been a real hassle to bypass. She had tried and tried again to at least figure out what he liked, but had been met with failure. That is, until she had met the Ichiraku family. That had at least provided her with a location to get information about her mysterious friend should she need it.

The Ichiraku family had proven quite helpful in providing information on the blond's nature and personality. The best part was that Naruto couldn't rebuke the Father-Daughter duo since he cared too much for them. He actually trusted them enough to call them his family!

From then on, she had decided that she would help him regain his emotions by a very unique way, a way her friend Anko had given her a thumbs up for. By teasing the hell out of him!

If he couldn't share a few words with her, then she would annoy him until he did. That had proven wondrous, well at least for her. Her teasing wasn't anything extreme, just mild rib pokes and trying to give him bone crushing hugs. The first part had succeeded for the most part, however the second part had been met with a crushing failure.

His speed and ever increasing sense of awareness made practically impossible for her to sneak up on him and give him a hug!

She smiled fondly and sighed.

"Well, you sure are in a pleasant mood"

Her eyes widened when a sudden deep and familiar voice said behind her without a sound, prompting her to shot up from the log and turn around swiftly. Her eyes widened even further when she saw the tall figure of the blond standing there like a statue in all his black cloaked glory.

"N-naruto!?"

She was suddenly on the defensive when a huge blood red fox dropped down near him and walked up to them menacingly. That thing looked like a mountain of red fur!

"At ease Kurenai, he is with me" Naruto stated calmly and signaled for his fox companion to stop growling.

"So you are back?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow behind his mask at the cold tone, wondering what he had done to receive such a response.

"Indeed. I just finished yesterday and thought it appropriate to visit you" He replied softly.

Kurenai felt her hard mask weaken a little when he unknowingly confessed that he missed her. However, it would take more than a few sweet words to satisfy her! He hadn't visited her even once after that day at the Academy!

"So now that you visited me, you can leave" she replied with a huff and turned around in an un-Kurenai-like manner. If someone, particularly her Jonin comrades saw her pouting like this, they would die of shock.

"Pardon?"

"I said you can leave now that you've seen me" She snapped without turning around, with no real malice behind her words.

Naruto blinked several times behind his mask, wondering what was going on. Had he done something wrong? He saw no harm in visiting Kurenai.

"I see. I'll be on my way then" Naruto stated calmly, though he smirked slightly under his mask when the red-eyed Jonin stiffened.

'He is not going to do what I think he is. Is he?' she asked herself unsurely. Her eyes twitched when she turned around and saw Naruto walking. Damn that blond for playing on her weak spots.

"Wait!"

Naruto's smirk widened even more when he heard her desperate shout "Yes?"

Kurenai could feel her eyebrows twitching even harder when she heard his smug response. She may have been hurt because of him not visiting her during the course of his first month as a Genin, but she had known that he would be busy.

And now, that smug blond was rubbing it in!

She huffed once more and sat on the log without saying a word. Her lips stretched to a fond smile when he let out a soft chuckle of amusement and sat down beside her, while his companion stood beside him a like royal guard watching over his King.

The two descended into a comfortable silent and watched the still unaware Genins sparing with each other. There were no words needed to convey the messages of the heart between them seeing as they understood each other, even if one slightly less than the other.

Naruto watched the Genins spar and glanced at Kurenai "I must commend you for training them so well even though you are a newly promoted Jonin"

Kurenai smiled at compliment, well aware that he never said anything without actually meaning it "Thank you. To be honest, I am not actually sure why I was chosen to lead a Genin team when there were so many more Jonins to be selected for the job"

"Don't underestimate yourself. Leading a Genin team requires certain qualities that are essential for effective leadership. Maybe the Hokage saw those qualities in you and seeing the results of your teaching in those Genins, I agree with him" Naruto replied calmly.

"Aren't you in a generous mood today?" She teased lightly and elbowed in the ribs playfully, grinning in a triumphed manner when he moved away slightly.

"Don't get used it" He replied blankly.

"So does this visit mean that you missed me?" She asked teasingly and moved a little closer to him. She was going to enjoy watching him squirm! "Well"

"I suppose you could say that" He admitted reluctantly, causing Kurenai to blink in surprise and for her cheeks to suddenly feel a little heated. She hadn't expected him to admit that. She had been hoping to tease him and watch him squirm under her gaze, not for him to admit that he had missed her.

"W-what?"

Naruto gave her a sideway glance "You didn't hear me?"

"Never mind" She mumbled and looked away to hide her heated cheeks. After regaining her composure, she turned around with a curious gaze at the hulking mass of red fur "By the way, you never mentioned anything about having a foxy partner"

"He had been at the Compound to guard it in my absence and to train" Naruto replied evenly and motioned for his partner to stand in front of Kurenai who stiffened "Not need to be defensive Kurenai, he is not going to attack"

The fox looked at the female Jonin with intensity, boring his red eyes into her own as if searching for any sign of danger directed towards its master. When it was satisfied with finding no malice in her eyes, it slowly lowered its head in her lap harmlessly.

Kurenai despite freaked out by the fox's red eyes boring into hers couldn't help but smile when it lowered its head in her lap. She placed her hand on its head softly and caressed it lovingly, all the while giving Naruto a soft smile.

Even his partner was this loyal to him.

"You have raised him well" She said softly and caressed the fox's head lovingly.

"Unfortunately, I can't say I had any real influence over his growth due to my constant training"

Kurenai smirked when the fox let out a grunt of annoyance, as if agreeing with that fact. The way the fox raised its head from her lap and huffed was so comical that even Naruto let out a soft chuckle at the rude response.

"It seems Akuma agrees with me on that front" Naruto said amusingly while Kurenai let out a soft giggle.

"Akuma huh? Cute name" She said with a smirk, knowing the comment would rile up Naruto.

"Pardon me, but that name is not cute" He replied evenly.

"To you maybe"

Naruto ignored her smug response and looked towards the curious approaching Genins. It seems their conversation had alerted the three wannabe Ninjas.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Night Time, Hokage Monument**

Naruto was once again sitting on his father's stone head in a meditating position while his companion lay beside him on its front paws. The few hours he had spent with her and her team had proven quite entertaining. After meeting with her team, he had treated them to ramen.

The team had proven interesting, especially Shino. They had changed since his last meeting with them in the Academy. It seems Kurenai had done a great job of clearing away their visions of an ideal world and had replaced them with reality.

He had however, threatened Kiba a bit for hitting on Ayame. As long as he lived, no one would ever even look at her the wrong way or suffer the ultimate consequences.

After her dismissal of her team, he had escorted her to her home, even though she had insisted on going alone. He knew she could take care of herself, but still, there was no such thing as being too careful. The end result had been rather confusing and embarrassing.

She had practically demanded that he show her his face, or else never talk with her again. After much contemplating on his part and much pleading on her part, he had relented, only to receive the same result he had received with Haku. A full blown smooch on the lips!

Though instead of being a little scared of his appearance, she had blushed like a tomato. That had been at least amusing enough to get him out his shock-induced state from her sudden show of affection. Though she had no reason to slam the door at his face when he had asked the reason for the kiss!

He had returned here to meditate and get his mind straight for the training ahead. He had six months to train before the Chunin Exams. If his current training method didn't cause his death, the not even the pedophiliac Sanin would be no match for him.

Still, he knew it would take more than pure brute strength and Ninjutsu to permanently dispose of him. That man had more experience than two of his lifetimes combined! If he trained for a few years, particularly for five or six years, not even the likes of Madara and Hashirama would be able to stop him.

"Kyuubi"

" **What is it, Mortal**?"

"I was wondering about getting a Summon for myself"

" **So**?"

"What would you recommend?"

" **You don't need to look for a summon, it will look for you** "

Naruto blinked "I beg your pardon?"

" **Throughout the history of the Shinobi world, there had been certain individuals with strong affinity for Fire such as you. Those individuals had been almost always approached by a creature of hell known as Cerberus** "

"The Guardian of Hell?" Naruto asked in a rare moment of surprise.

" **Precisely. It is possible that it would approach you if your control over the element Fire reaches a certain noteworthy level. However, should it ever approach, be cautious. Few among all those individuals had survived its test** "

Before Naruto respond, his heightened senses picked up a peculiar scent and sound coming up behind his back. His suspicions were proven correct when his partner suddenly jolted up from his place and stood on all four in front of him, growling threateningly at the approaching man.

Naruto calmly revolved around and saw a man he both respected and hated with his all being "Danzo Shimura"

This man was the perfect example of a heartless and ruthless Shinobi. Raised in the midst of conflict and wars, lived in the shadow of his teammate and protected the Leaf from behind the scenes. Though his resolve to protect his home village by all means necessary was admirable, it was his methods that sickened him.

This man would go through everything to acquire the results necessary. It was his belief that some had to die to protect others, some had to be used to take advantage of others and some had to be sacrificed to provide time for the rest.

On top of that, Naruto didn't like the way he had robbed his soldiers of their emotions. Honestly, he wasn't one top talk about emotions, but he had willingly discarded them to grown strong without them slowing him down. His soldiers had no choice in the matter and were forcefully brainwashed to think like a machine.

Such a mindset was revolting him to no end.

However, he also respected the man for his continued struggle to cleanse Konoha of all inside and some outside threats. Despite his wizened and crippled façade, Naruto knew the man could very well rival the old man in combat. The fact that he had sneaked up on him this far was surprising to say the least.

Only the Hokage had ever sneaked up on him.

The man was wearing a long cloak of sorts with the right side missing at the torso, hiding his right arm from view, bandages wrapped around his forehead and right eye and a cane in his hand.

Danzo walked up to the Fourth's legacy and stood beside his sitting form, looking at the peaceful view of the moon shining brightly in the sky over the village "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Naruto glanced at the brown haired man curiously, wondering what game was he playing at "You didn't come here to indulge in ideal chit chat"

The closed eyes man let a small smile appear on his wizened visage at the cold and emotionless response "Indeed. I have come with an offer"

"An offer?"

"Yes. I know you have been studying under Hiruzen since you were a child and know who I am and what I stand for. In my opinion, Hiruzen is too soft to lead the Leaf to the heights of greatness. His ideal visions of peaceful coexistence with the rest of the villages would lead to our eventual downfall"

"I see"

"I have seen a potential in you few others have. I would like to be the one to bring out that hidden potential in you for the betterment of the Leaf"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked confusingly, though inwardly he already knew the answer to his question. The man obviously wanted him to become one of his pawns.

"I would like to offer an opportunity to join my ranks as my subordinate" Danzo stated calmly and turned his eye from the sight of the peaceful village to gaze at the cloaked Jinchuriki.

"What is in it for me?"

"Strength and power"

Naruto hummed in thought, smiling under his black expressionless mask. He couldn't believe his luck! Training all be himself was good and all, but there was nothing like engaging in a good old fashioned fights to the death, if the old man's lecture about Danzo's inhuman training regimen were correct, then it would prove quite an interesting experience.

However, he couldn't just give his answer right away lest he appear desperate "I can't say I'm not intrigued by the offer, however I would like think over it for a few days to give a proper response"

Danzo nodded with a light smirk "Take all the time you need. Meet me here when you are ready"

 **Three days Later, Danzo's Lair**

"Allow me to introduce you to your partner, Sai" Danzo said calmly and motioned for a sickly pale skinned boy with short black hair dressed in a short shirt reaching down to his midriff and black pants.

Naruto was standing in front of his temporary superior officer in his office in the underground base of the Foundation. He had made his decision after three days that training with Danzo would prove far more beneficial than training solo. At least for now anyway. Just because he had agreed didn't mean that he would allow himself to be bossed around like a mindless puppet.

He had only agreed when Danzo had promised to meet his conditions. First, there will be no ordering him around like a puppet. Second, no adjustments were to be made on his body unless he gives the permission. And thirdly, no one was to accompany him on his missions should there be any. Danzo had been rather peeved due to the second condition. It seems the man had some other motives for not readily agreeing to that condition.

"Sai will be your training partner and subordinate. He will follow your orders to the latter unless I stop him" Danzo announced evenly. While he had agreed with the conditions, there was still a loophole in the second one which he could exploit should the need arise.

"With that out of the way, let's get on with your training. Follow me"

Naruto gazed at the crippled visage of Danzo walk away into the darkness of the underground hall, oddly feeling satisfied. Danzo may think that he had found a loophole in his conditions, but he would be dead wrong.

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Well? Leave your comments and tell me what you think!

AN: oh I forgot, is there anyone among the readers who know how to draw? I would appreciate it if someone from the Deviantart drew it. If there is, kindly tell me.

Sorry to say this, but days are getting short and my has officially started again, meaning slower updates.


	8. Chapter 8: Chunin Exams

**Chunin Exams**

 **Disclaimer= I don't own Naruto or Techniques from any other anime etc.**

 **Answers to a few reviews,**

 **DominoNamikaze2010: Oh that, I was mistaken in that regard. It will be corrected when I have time.**

 **Rising: Thanks mate. Glad to see you enjoy my work. About the early updates, I have four stories I need to update so you can guess that my time is stretched pretty thin.**

 **The Godzila: Gratitude dude. About Cerberus, I haven't read that manga but I'll try to make him live up to your expectation.**

 **Adislt: The reason why he joined Danzo will be revealed in later chapters. There is a plot twist in that point. As for pairings, you can rest assured that this is SINGLE pairing.**

 **Jerico516: Yup!**

 **Xypher1: Thanks for your continued support, mate. Now towards your review, Sasuke will be bashed less, I mean as much as he deserves. If I bash him too much, it will take all the fun out of my story. As for Kakashi, well I was tempted to make him his cannon self, but then refrained from doing since there was a reason for that. In Cannon, he already about Naruto being the son of his Sensei but never did anything for him except when he got his ass handed to him by Sasuke in Shippuden, but in my story, he will be a character similar to a brother.**

 **In this chapter, you will see another side of Naruto and Hiruzen's relationship, I cannot guarantee but I know that it'll be delightful.**

 **As for the interaction between Naruto and Kurenai, I tried to make her personality as close to cannon as possible but still bend it a little to my advantage. So it's a relief to hear you appreciate it. Thanks**

 **Danzo, hmm, yes your thoughts are correct. I mean the guy hid under the Leaf village while it was being destroyed by both Orochimaru and Pain, and then he spews out nonsense about taking the Leaf village to greatness and uniting the world under one banner. And yes, you are precise in your deduction, Naruto did used and is still using Danzo. For what? That will be revealed later.**

 **Anyway, I've sent you a request for reading my other stories and reviewing what you think, but it seems you were too busy. Thanks for your support and admittedly awesome reviews.**

 **Ezeakal: Joining Danzo is for a reason which will be revealed later. Sorry to say this, but the pairings have already been decided. Kurenai.**

 **JSua: That's for me to know and for you to find out (*_*)**

 **Burrito: Yes, you are right to a certain extent. What I meant by that rant was that Naruto was being kicked around like a ragdoll through most of the series and only got powerful in the end.**

 **Guest: You, my mate, pretty much took the words from my mouth. I was thinking about the same thing regarding the mask, but its necessary. And yes, it will be broken during the coming chapters.**

 **Dnck: Exactly what I mean. So thanks for that!**

 **Nitewolf432: Yes yes, I know. It's a mistake and will be corrected in time.**

 **LetsSeeIfICanDoThisToo: The age difference, I admit I was mistaken and will correct it when I have time.**

 **Answer of the Previous Question (** He says the score before every football game begins is 0-0 **)**

 **Winners (Jerico516,)**

 **Question of the Day (** There's a 1 story house where everything inside and outside of it was PURPLE. So what color were the stairs? **)**

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 **Konoha, Hokage Monument**

The main street of the Hidden Leaf Village was as hectic and as full of life as always, except today it was going way over the top with the noise and screams of joy. Children were running here and there with wide grins on their faces while the adults simply looked on with fond smiles on their faces.

The reason for the bustling streets and wide grins of joy was the upcoming Chunin Exams.

Naruto gazed from above the Hokage Monument with a blank look on his mask covered face, legs crossed under him as he sat in a meditative position while Akuma's hulking form lay snoring lightly on the ground. The winds above ruffled his cloak like a leaf and threatened to blast away his mask from his face.

Some may have found the wind annoying, but for him, it simply brought back memories of the many missions he had taken during the course of his six month absence from active duty. Most of his missions from the Foundation leader had been assassination and honestly he had no reason to complain.

It simply made his skills of stealth and pinpoint precision even greater than they already were. Though that didn't mean he had taken those mission where he had to kill innocent individuals simply because they had crossed Danzo's path. The scared Shinobi had taken the hint after a few blank refusals of such mission and had taken great care in appointing him those missions which were within his zone of comfort.

Those six months of constant training with the Foundation members had proven far more beneficial than he could've ever done by himself. Though he may not agree with Danzo's brutal methods of trainings, it had been fruitful nonetheless.

Naruto raised an eyebrow behind his mask when he heard Akuma suddenly stand on all four and growl like disturbed beast, which he was ironically. The masked man turned around and saw his ever late and perverted teacher, Kakashi standing behind him with a sheepish look on his face and hands held high in surrender.

"It has been a long time, Naruto. How've you been?" He asked nonchalantly and approached them calmly, only to jump slightly when Akuma growled even harder, causing the masked Jonin to sweatdrop "Honestly, he should be used to my presence by now"

Naruto lightly patted the hulking fox and turned to his teacher with a blank look on his masked face "He never gets used to anyone's presence"

Kakashi eye smiled "Not even Kurenai?"

Hearing the red eyed Jonin's name, even Akuma relaxed and laid down again with a huff while Naruto frowned slightly behind his mask. He didn't like the way Kakashi kept using her name to get a reaction out of him "What do you want Kakashi?"

Kakashi grinned behind his mask, knowing he had hit a nerve with that comment. Honestly, it was the only thing or rather the only name through which he could get any reaction from the ice cold blond, but even that was starting to lessen or was it perhaps Naruto getting even more adapt at concealing his thoughts and emotions "Can't a teacher visit his dear student?"

Naruto stared at him for a few seconds and then turned around to look at the village below "A teacher as I understand it, is one whose has at least taught his student something to be called one"

Kakashi sweatdropped "You really need to tone down your blunt statements, Naruto"

"I need not stoop so low to hide the actual implications of my words, regardless of its impacts"

"Didn't I just say to tone it down?" Kakashi deadpanned.

"Apparently you didn't hear me quite clearly" Naruto retorted calmly and ran his hands through the fox's blood red fur "Now what is your actual reason for coming here and ruining my peace of mind?"

The cyclopean Jonin gave a look "Peace of mind? Yeah right!"

When Naruto didn't even flinch or twitch at his retort, he sighed deeply and sat down next to his estranged student who had disappeared for six whole months, only appearing once in a while to visit the Ichiraku family and Kurenai, the fox was fortunately restrained from attacking him by Naruto "The Chunin Exams are coming close, next week to be exact"

"hmmm"

"Why do I feel like you knew about it and just messed with me?" Kakashi said in a deadpan. His state of depression increased even further when he heard the fox let out a sound akin to a snort, causing him to direct a glare at the amused fox "Even your pet is disrespectful"

Akuma suddenly jumped up and let out a loud terrifying growl that even scared Kakashi enough to make him instinctively jump back and guard himself with a Kunai.

Naruto smirked for the first time in six months "Do yourself a favor and don't call him a pet or you might fall under his hit list"

Kakashi discreetly put away his Kunai and glared at the growling fox who seemed to be stuck between growling at him for calling him a pet and snorting at his reaction "I really hate that fox"

Ever since he had been introduced to the fox, it had been growling at him nonstop, even going so far as to suddenly sneak up behind him and growl in his ears! The embarrassing part was that the damn fox had the same stealth capabilities as his master which was a lot and thus he had to endure being suddenly scared out of his boots or sandals in his case. He had become even more paranoid than before!

"Well, congratulations, he doesn't seem to like you either" Naruto replied blankly.

Kakashi reached for his back pocket and produced an orange book which if Naruto guessed correctly, was Kurenai's most hated and despised book ever, Icha Icha "Anyway, it was good to see you and this fox again, even though I still hate it. Hope to see you in the Chunin Exams, that is if you willing to participate"

Akuma didn't even bother raising his head and simply release a light snort.

The one eyed Jonin reached for his pocket again and brought out a small form, which was no doubt the registration form for the Chunin Exam, and give it to Naruto "Here, fill the form and submit in the Academy, see ya"

A puff of smoke later and Kakashi was gone.

Naruto glanced down at the form in his hands and put it in his long cloak before standing up to an impressive height. Seeing his master stand up and dust his cloak, the fox let out a loud yawn and stood up on all fours to his full hulking form of compact muscles and blood red fur "Well then, time to head back to the village and submit the form"

He would fill the form in the Academy and then submit it, hopefully without anyone stupid in charge of the form collection. Then again, he could care less about their jobs or personal opinion of his character. He was satisfied with the way he was and would remain the same for as long as possible.

Without saying another word, the tall cloaked Genin jumped down from the Hokage Monument followed by Akuma who seemed too eager to follow his master's lead.

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 **Main Street**

After submitting the form in the Academy to Iruka, who had been pleasantly surprised to see the tall Genin appear before him looking as imposing and cold as ever. Naruto was equally surprised to see that the Chunin tried his best to convince him to a bowl of Ramen and even though he couldn't comprehend the sudden change in his behavior, he had politely declined his rather generous and genuine offer.

When Naruto and Akuma turned around a corner in the streets near the Academy; they came across a rather peculiar sight.

A relatively tall boy dressed in an odd cat costume wearing strange make up on his face and a large bundle of something wrapped in bandages on his back, was holding the grandson of the Professor, Konohamaru.

A blonde girl of average height dressed in a pinkish white kimono and a large fan strapped to her back was standing next to the cat costume wearing boy with an annoyed look on her face.

Standing in front of them were two small kids and his pink haired teammate, looking worried for the boy.

"Let him go, Kankuro, or you will pay for it later" the blonde girl said in a nervous tone.

"Relax Temari, I'm just gonna show this kid some manners before HE gets here" Kankuro replied with a smug grin and raised his hand to smack the kid when a large metal gloved hand stopped his limb from even moving an inch.

"I would highly recommend you rethink your decision" a cold and detached voice said from behind him.

Kankuro grunted and let the small boy flop down on the ground with a thud, turning around to glare at the one foolish enough to stop him, only to stiffen when he saw a black masked man covered in black cloak from head to toe standing right in front of his face like a motionless statue.

Sakura's eyes widened when she saw her missing teammate appear out of nowhere and stop the two foreign Ninjas from harming the Hokage's grandson. She hadn't seen him much after their Wave mission; it was as if he had disappeared from the face of the planet. She had asked her Sensei many times but he would only chuckle and say that he was busy with his life.

What hell did that even mean?!

Udon and Moegi huddled around Konohamaru and tried to comfort him while the aforementioned boy looked at Naruto with clear shock evident in eyes.

Temari eyed the tall and imposing masked man with something akin to nervousness and interest in her eyes. The man was tall, very much so and covered from head to toe in black cloak which seemed to move hypnotically in the soft breeze while he stood as still as a statue 'The leaf sure is filled with spooky fellows'

"Who the hell are you?" the costume wearing boy asked in irritation and tried to free his hand from the man's painfully tight grip 'Is he trying to crush my bones!'

Naruto released his grip on the boy's hand "It's not polite to demand something from your hosts"

Temari stepped forward, bopped Kankuro on the head and smiled nervously "Sorry about that, my brother just doesn't know when to shut his mouth"

Even though she could not tell where he was looking, Temari could tell that he was staring at her brother "It does seem like he has trouble controlling that particular organ"

"What did you say!?" Kankuro shouted in indignation while Temari smirked. His irritation increased even more when the masked man didn't even bother looking at him as he was too busy looking at a tree.

"You didn't hear me the first time?" the blonde girl could almost picture a cute face with wide eyes blinking in confusion behind his expressionless mask when Naruto tilted his head sideways.

Kankuro raised his fist in front of his face threateningly, a large tick mark on his forehead while Temari let out a soft chuckle "Look here you cloaked bastard, do you know who I am?"

"Should I care, makeup boy?" Naruto asked blankly, causing the blonde haired girl to burst out laughing at the expression on Kankuro's face.

"Why you…" Before he could finish his sentence, a swirl of sand appeared right in front of him, causing the blonde girl and the cat costume wearing boy to shield their eyes lest they go blind.

The sand swirled and swirled around until it stopped to form a golden humanoid shape. The shape regained its original color and revealed to be a redhead boy with a large gourd standing there, his hands crossed over his chest, a blank and cold look on his face.

' **Shukaku's vessel, interesting** '

Naruto raised an eyebrow behind his mask at the remark 'Are you certain?'

' **Mortal, you do realize that we are 'siblings' right**?' Naruto could practically see the deadpan look on the beast's face.

'I do. I never realized that you would have some sort of way to detect each other's presence' Naruto replied blankly, without acknowledging his deadpan look. The beast had become rather sarcastic lately and frankly, he was in no mood to indulge him.

' **Regardless, just keep an eye on him'**

'Hmm'

Naruto regained his sense of awareness and stared at the redhead boy who seemed to be staring at him quite relentlessly while the other two standing behind the redhead seemed a nervous wreck. Naruto could understand their hesitation, however not their fear. Sure, having a container on your team, an unstable one from the looks of it, was a cause for concern but it shouldn't get such reactions of horror and fear.

The boy stopped his staring match with Naruto and turned to Kankuro with a cold look on his face "You are a disgrace Kankuro"

"B-but Gaara, he…"

"Do that again and I'll kill you"

Kankuro flinched at the threat and backed away in fear.

Sakura, Udon, Moegi and Konohamaru let out loud shrieks of fright when Akuma dropped down from a tree right beside Naruto and let out a growl so loud and fierce that even Gaara winced. Temari instinctively reached for her fan but relaxed when Naruto raised his hand and calmed the growling fox down.

'My god! That thing is huge!'

Sakura and the other three Genins backed as far away as possible from the blood red fox with shaky feet, wondering how a fox that huge could even exist. It was the size of a damn horse, except it had sharp claws and a body that looked as if it was made from melted red iron.

The fox stopped its growling but walked half around Naruto, standing with his body behind him and his head beside his right side as he glared at the trio with his menacingly sharp eyes of fire. Simply looking in those blood colored eyes was giving Temari and Kankuro uncontrollable shivers.

Gaara however looked as composed as ever and ignored the hulking fox's light growls "I apologize for my brother's behavior, it won't happen again"

'He is strange. Even though I can't see his face, I somehow know he wouldn't hesitate to kill us should we refuse to behave. I'll have to keep an eye on this one'

"Make sure it doesn't" Naruto replied without a hint of warmth or care.

The redhead nodded stiffly "The name is Gaara, Gaara of the Sand"

"Naruto Uzumaki"

"Well then, Uzumaki. We'll see meet again in the exams" Gaara stated in a blank tone and turned around to look at his siblings "Let's go"

"R-right"

Naruto watched the trio walk away and turned to the three Genin and his pink haired teammate "You should be more careful of your surroundings, Konohamaru"

"Right sorry" the aforementioned boy nodded quickly and lowered his head.

Naruto turned around without saying a word and walked away while Akuma followed him as they disappeared into a corner. Sakura, Moegi and Udon gave the downtrodden boy a look of shock and confusion.

"You know him?" Udon whispered in shock "You know that scary dude?!"

Konohamaru nodded slowly and looked at the corner Naruto had disappeared into with a nostalgic look on his face "Yeah, he used to take care of me when grandpa was busy in the office ever since I was a child. I grew up looking up to him like a big brother. He was my idol, my source of motivation. Grandpa used to say that Naruto carried a heavy burden on his shoulders yet always faced his problems with determination and confidence"

Sakura sympathized with the small boy, fully aware the boy was using past tense to describe Naruto's behavior which meant their relationship was not the same.

"He used to say that Naruto would one day lead Konoha to greatness and peace. I knew that anyone who could get my grandpa to admire him, to praise him was a man worth following. I was a child back then but I knew Naruto would always smile a fake smile when asked why grandpa always praised him and say that he was honored to be praised by the professor" His fond smile turned into one of sadness "But then he changed"

"How so?" Sakura asked in interest. This was something new she was hearing about her teammate. He had never ever smiled in their presence and even if he had, she had never seen it due to his mask. She may be afraid of him, but he was still her teammate and a fellow Konoha citizen.

"I don't know what happened between him and grandpa, but whatever it was, it drove them apart. Naruto became more and more obsessed with training and gaining power. He rarely visited grandpa and me, too busy in training and mastering his Ninja Arts to have time for us. He would only appear once in a week or even month and even then only to get some scrolls from the office. His obsession with gaining power and strength became so powerful that it even worried my grandpa" He finished with clenched fists.

"Back then, I wasn't fully aware of his change in behavior but I did notice that he had tossed away his smile and replaced it with a look that it almost looked like it was carved out of stone. His smile vanished just like the warmth of his presence after sometime. I will never forget the day when I saw him in my grandpa's office after several months of absence"

"W-what happened?" Moegi asked in a shaky voice, almost afraid to hear the next part. Even though the story was interesting, she couldn't help but wonder how Konohamaru seemed different when talking about Naruto. It was not only his expression, but way of speaking. It was as if words traveled from his mouth without him even realizing it.

"I was there to challenge my grandpa for his position when I spotted him. I didn't even recognize him. His back was turned to me but I saw that he had gotten tall even more than he already was. His entire body was covered in black cloak from head to toe; he almost looked like a soul reaper" He shivered "If I thought that was bad, I was gravely mistaken. The moment he turned around and looked at me, I felt as though death itself was staring at my very soul. Half of his face was covered in a red mask, leaving his eyes uncovered. His blue eyes which I knew held unparalleled levels of kindness felt lifeless, dull and devoid of its former warmth"

His eyes turned misty as he looked at the ground and clenched his fists "Everything about him felt dull and lifeless. His presence no longer held its aura of comfort, his masked covered lips were stretched into a thin line and his eyes bore into my soul like a drill. It was as if his eyes were searching for something and when he didn't saw it, he turned around in disappointment. I simply stood there and watched him in disbelief while he asked my grandpa about something I could care less about and when he got it, he left without saying anything"

"That's horrible!" Udon exclaimed in shock. Even Sakura agreed with that statement. To have someone you look up to like a brother not even deem you worthy of a glance or words was harsh and cold beyond belief

"He disappeared after that again and only appeared a few months later. I saw him in our Clan's compound sparring with my grandpa. It looked like a simple sparring match but I later found out that grandpa had challenged him to a friendly battle"

"He had fought with the Hokage!?" Sakura exclaimed with dropped jaws. Udon's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he dropped down in an unconscious heap, causing Moegi and Konohamaru to sweatdrop despite the tense atmosphere.

Ignoring their shocked expressions, Konohamaru continued "It wasn't an actual fight but it was cool watching it. It was obvious grandpa would win since he had more experience but Naruto more than made up for it with his cunning and ferocity"

"Do you know the word ferocity?" Moegi deadpanned.

"Shut up" He coughed into his hand in embarrassment "Anyway as I watched, I was more and more becoming aware of why grandpa had challenged him in the first place. He was far too powerful, too cunning and devious for someone his age. During the entire battle, he looked around the field like a hawk and used tricks simple but so effective that it would sometime even surprise my grandpa. Each and every blow of his seemed to improve the more he fought. While he didn't land a hit on my grandpa, he didn't receive much either. However, that is when everything changed"

"What happened next?" Sakura asked eagerly.

"He took out a sword"

Everyone except Sakura blinked in confusion "A sword? What's so special about a sword?"

Sakura knew exactly what. It was the exact same sword with which Naruto had turned one of the Demon Brothers into nothing but ash.

"Just let me finish!" He snapped childishly which reminded Sakura that he was still a small kid despite the way he seemed to describe the story "The sword was covered in flames from the guard up to the peak. The moment Naruto took it out, the whole training field lit in a dim red light from its intensity. Grandpa immediately stopped the battle and walked into the compound without saying a word, a serious look on his face. But I learned one thing from that battle"

"Which is what" Udon asked groggily, having just woken up from his peaceful sleep.

Konohamaru looked at the sky above seriously "Naruto was born to fight!"

The words seemed to linger in the air like a fog or like a heavy blanket as they each fell into deep thoughts.

"Wow Konohamaru! When did you get so smart?" Moegi asked in awe, breaking the tense atmosphere.

A tick mark grew on his forehead as he turned around with an indignant look on his face "Hey I was always smart like that!"

"You could've fooled me" She whispered.

Sakura shook her head and walked away to think about the new information she had gotten about her enigma of a teammate. It seemed like the more she knew about him, the more confusing and mysterious he became.

From above a tree, Sasuke seethed in anger as he looked at the corner where Naruto had disappeared. He had been ready to intervene when he had seen the Hokage's grandson being picked on by the foreign Genins; however Naruto came to the rescue before he could even move. He could care less about the kid's safety; he was more focused on the Sand Genins, especially the redhead.

Even Naruto's appearance had not been an issue and he would have dropped down from the tree, had that hulking mass of red fur not appeared. Honestly that thing was not supposed to be that big! The embarrassing part, one he hated to admit, was that it even scared him.

Anyone with an appropriate amount of brain cells would be scared of that thing if they saw it!

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 **Hokage Tower**

Hiruzen Sarutobi cleared his throat and lit up his cigar, inhaling deeply, letting the calm wave of the substance wash over his being "Alright, lets begin. It's time to choose the candidate for the Chunin Exams"

Every Jonin in charge of Genins, both old and rookie, were standing attentively in the lower part of the Hokage Tower. Kakashi was for once in his life, not reading his novel in front of others and standing tall, though a bored look on his face was evident. It was as if he was practically burning inside from the lack of any reading material.

Asuma, being a man and a hot-blooded one at that, sympathized with the cyclopean Jonin and gave him a look of pity. He would have comforted the man if he wasn't in a similar situation himself. His hands were twitching to grab his cigarette box and inhale a dozen at once, consequences be damned!

Kurenai on the other hand, being a female and a known pervert hater, had a satisfied smirk on her face. If she got her way, she would practically declare a ban on any indecent novels or other materials of similar nature. It was a good thing Naruto was not a pervert or she would've have been forced to make another choice.

"Those who are in charge of a rookie team, step forward"

Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai stepped forward and stood in front of the desk in attention.

"Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, what do you say? Are there any in your squad that you would recommend for the selection, despite their inexperience?" the wizened Hokage asked calmly and puffed his pipe "Kakashi, you go first"

Kakashi nodded firmly "I, Kakashi Hatake, lead Team 7 consisting of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. I would like to recommend all of my Genins to the Chunin Selection Exam"

Asuma stepped forward "I, Asuma Sarutobi, lead Team 9 consisting of Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka. I would like to recommend all of my Genins to the Selection Exam"

No way was she going to let them one up her! Kurenai stepped forward proudly "I, Kurenai Yuuhi, lead Team 8 consisting of Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Aburame. I would also like to recommend all of my Genins to the Selection Exam"

"No way!"

"All the rookies!?"

"That's unheard of!"

Iruka while silent throughout the proceeding couldn't keep himself controlled anymore and stepped forward. He already knew Naruto was entering since he had already submitted his form, but the rest he was not so sure "Lord Hokage, I would like to interject here"

Hiruzen gave the scarred Chunin a questioning look from underneath his Hokage hat "Well Iruka, what is it?"

The Chunin cleared his throat "Sir, the nine names that were just taken, were all my students. I know them more than anyone. Except Naruto, all of them are not ready to enter the Exams. I don't mean to debase their levels of skills but they are still young and need more experience before they are ready to enter"

Kurenai smirked slightly when she heard that Naruto was apparently excluded from the group of rookies. She had been ready to argue and prove that Naruto was more than ready to enter the Exams to anyone who was bold enough to say otherwise in her presence, but it seems they knew. Good for their health!

Honestly these emotions were strange and confusing. She knew that she didn't love or even liked the tall and imposing Genin, she was just interested in him and yet she felt the need to stand up for him. Love was a word so strong and frightening even she wasn't willing to use in this situation, despite her attraction towards him.

There was just something about him that captivated her, seized her interest in a vice grip. His cold and detached personality, his words soft yet blank in all its simplicity, attracted her beyond belief. It had taken three years for him to open up to her and even then only slightly. That just pointed towards the fact that he liked his privacy above all else.

She knew most men were all eager to tell others about their lives, all the way to the smallest of details, yet he had only given bits of information after three years of trying to gain his trust and friendship. The kiss was just… something she did before she even had time to think it over. When he showed her his face, she just couldn't resist, couldn't stop her hands fast enough from wrapping around his neck to pull him closer, couldn't stop her lips from smashing with his.

And then, he had made the situation even worse by asking for its reason! She knew he was dense when it came to women—her friend Anko and some other hussies she was not going to name seemed to take particular pleasure from that aspect!-but he should've at least known not to ask such… uncomfortable questions which she herself had no answers!

Kakashi turned around and gave the concerned Chunin a pointed look "When I entered the Chunin Exams, I was six years old"

"They are not like you, Kakashi!" Iruka retorted with a frown "Are you trying to deliberately harm them?"

"Well a little failure won't hurt them"

"What!?"

"Nothing fetal, just a little blow to their ego" Kakashi replied firmly

The old man sighed in exaggeration and inhaled deeply to ease his headache which was sure to come. He could certainly understand Iruka's reluctance and agreed with him to a certain extent. The rest of the Genins were not ready to enter an exam that was far too advanced for their current level of power and skill, well except Naruto "Iruka, you've made your point and I understand. In accordance with that, I believe it would be appropriate to hold a Preliminary Test"

"A Preliminary Test?!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Academy, Next Morning**

Sasuke and Sakura waited patiently in front of the academy, each lost in their own thoughts. For Sasuke, it was a refreshing change to see Sakura quiet for once and not fawning over him, though he did glance upward several times to make the sky was not falling down upon them.

Sakura was looking at the sky with a faraway look on her face, her thoughts kept returning back to the story Konohamaru had described. To think that the icy cold and indifferent Naruto had once been a warm and loving boy who always seemed to smile. Just what had he endured to forget his past self and discard everything for the sake of power!

Judging from the way Konohamaru seemed to smile fondly when he had mentioned Naruto's past attitude of an elder brother, he seemed so much better than the one she was teamed up with now. But she at least knew that humans don't change so suddenly unless or until they face tragedy.

For Naruto to change from a kind and gentle boy to a man who seemed to judge people solely by their prowess in battle, a man who appeared content in keeping the world as far away from him as possible, a man who hid his face from the world to hide his own sorrow, he must've faced something his mind could not comprehend, something he could not handle or rather found something he was not supposed to.

Either way, the present Naruto didn't resemble the old one in the slightest.

Growing up the way she did, she had always seen the world in vivid colors of joy and happiness, devoid of the horrors she had witnessed on her first mission outside the village. Seeing the casual way Naruto acted after killing one of the Demon Brothers horrified her beyond belief! How could he kill a human being and act as if nothing had happened? How could he even sleep after witnessing the fearful eyes of his victim before his death?

She was forced out of her thoughts when she saw her tall enigma of a teammate approaching them in all his black cloaked glory while the horse size fox followed after him, searching around the front yard of the academy for something with his sharp and menacing red eyes.

She decided that she would observe and try to understand her tall teammate as much as she could "Good morning Naruto"

Naruto stood in front of the two Genins and raised an eyebrow behind his mask as he heard Sakura's unexpected polite greeting "Greetings Sakura"

Sakura smiled slightly at his response. Well she learned one thing, give him respect and get respect in return.

Sasuke gave his tall teammate an annoyed look "Where were you?"

The dark haired Uchiha couldn't help but shift uncomfortably when the tall blond stood in front of him and stared at him from behind his mask. He had a feeling he was searching for something and frowned when he shook his head and turned away to walk towards the academy "You are still the same. What a disappointment"

Sasuke glared at his retreating back and frowned, feeling oddly insulted that he had been dismissed like a weakling. Though he couldn't help but wonder what he meant by still the same? Was it his attitude? If it was, then he would've to disappoint the blond even more because he was not going to change. If it was his training and combat prowess, well there was only one way to make him reevaluate his theories about him.

By fighting him! But that would've to wait until the Chunin Exams began. For now, he would simply endure this humiliation.

Sakura along with Sasuke followed the tall blond and his foxy companion towards the class where the test was being taken. The students who were unfortunate enough to meet them in the hallway were scared away by Akuma's loud growls while others simply stood out of their way.

They turned around a corner and saw a group of students standing in the hallway in front of a class guarded by two Genins. Naruto raised an eyebrow when he saw his fellow student Rock Lee on the ground with a bruise on his face while Tenten tended to him.

Before Sasuke could open his mouth, Naruto gave him a curt glance "Don't. It's placed there for a reason"

Sasuke was ready to disagree but Naruto and Akuma walked away from the group through a series of stairs before he could say anything. Shrugging slightly, Sakura gave her crush a look and followed after her tall teammate seeing as his statement made sense. Sasuke reluctantly followed after the two with a deep scowl on his face, not seeing the look on Lee's face as he turned towards them.

Just as they reached a large hall, Lee appeared before them with his teeth sparkling like a star "Hello Naruto, we meet again my youthful friend!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Examination Room**

Naruto, Akuma, Sakura and a slightly bruised and beaten Sasuke stood in front of the examination room while a confused Kakashi looked at them with owlish eyes "Ah what the hell happened?"

Sasuke scowled even harder and crossed his hands over his chest, not wanting to narrate the tale of his humiliation. To think he would be defeated by someone who didn't even know how to dress properly. Naruto warned him about Lee's combat prowess but he ignored his warning and proceeded with the spar simply to prove that he could defeat him despite of Naruto's warning.

He was wrong! The weirdo moved so quick that he had barely time to even blink let alone defend himself. His punches hurt almost as much as Naruto's which was saying a lot. Even his Sharingan had proven useless against his fighting style!

He had only later learned that Naruto and Lee had been taught by the same teacher. It had explained the boy's unpredictable and powerful style but had not eased his humiliation. How was he supposed to know that he had the same teacher as Naruto!

"Sasuke apparently needed a lesson of humility and Lee was kind enough to provide the lesson for free" Naruto explained blankly, though Kakashi noted a slight hint of smugness in his tone.

Sakura despite her annoyance at the blond for insulting her crush couldn't help but grin slightly when she heard the sarcastic response. When you got around his cold and detached personality, he seemed quite interesting. Sasuke, however, was not amused in the slightest.

Kakashi sweatdropped at the blond's response and sighed deeply. He had been ready to deliver them a lecture about the importance of teamwork, but Naruto's comment took away all his enthusiasm "Just enter and good luck"

Sakura nodded slightly while Sasuke hn'ed before opening the gate to enter the room. Kakashi stopped Naruto with a hand on his shoulder and gave him an eye smile "Be careful Naruto. I would like to see how your story unfolds with my own eyes since I didn't get a chance to see your father's"

Naruto stared at him behind his mask for a few seconds before shrugging off his hand and walking away with Akuma "Sentimentalities doesn't suit you Kakashi, it's unbecoming of a Jonin of your caliber"

Kakashi sweatdropped "Way to ruin the moment Naruto"

Naruto entered the room and instantly noticed the killing intent lingering around in the air while the new Genins who had already entered the room were standing nervously in the front. The moment he entered, all the attention turned towards him. He narrowed his eyes behind mask when the killing intent focused on him and Akuma who growled loudly and shook his tail frantically.

"Pathetic!"

With those words alone, the whole room was flooded with a wave of suffocating killing intent that shocked everyone beside the One Tail Jinchuriki to their very core. As soon as it had appeared, it disappeared without a trace, prompting the insiders to let out breathes of relief.

Naruto ran his hand over Akuma's fur and walked towards a side of the room, leaning on the wall with his hands crossed over his chest while Akuma stood beside him and growled continuously. Looking around the room, he noticed that only Gaara and Shino seemed to have been undisturbed by his killing intent which just pointed towards their status as true Shinobi.

As a matter of fact, Naruto knew that Shino had been affected immensely just like the others, but he had composed himself splendidly. Such force of will and control of one's emotion was what made one a true Shinobi. As a fellow follower of logic and stealth and even though it wasn't the full might of his KI, he was impressed by his resolve to not appear bothered or intimidated.

Kurenai had trained him well.

Gaara, on the other hand had received his own fair share of killing intent from the One Tailed beast to be bothered by his. Still, the grin of vile intentions and thirst for blood was not welcomed in the slightest. His control over his emotions was mediocre at best, not to mention the openness of his presence. By just looking at face, he could practically predict his every move before he even made them.

Such expressiveness of his presence and the clarity of his intentions were pathetic

Taking his gaze away from the two calm Shinobi, he glanced over at the other Leaf Genins impassively. He could see that nothing had changed much about them. For the life of him, he could not figure out why a Shinobi, a being of darkness and deception, would proudly showcase his every move? Just like the rest of the delusional Genins littered around the room, he could read them like an open book.

They stood in the doorway proudly as if they owned the place and talked loudly, instead of preparing themselves for the fights that were sure to come. Their eyes and body language displayed every single thought swirling around in their minds. Every word coming from their mouth showcased the full capacity of their intellect. At least they were aware of their surrounding unlike the foreigners.

Some of them were here for glory and honor, some to impress his/her village's leader to earn favors and some for the sole purpose of fighting strong opponents to quench their thirst for blood. He could see no sense of devotion in their eyes, only blatant ambitions far too excessive for their fragile force of will to achieve. Only Shino and a few others seemed to know what they were here for and what was expected of them.

"Hey you guys, you might want to keep it down a little bit, this isn't a field trip you know" a soft voice announced near the Genins, prompting Naruto to glance at him impassively "No offense but you're the eight rookies right? I wouldn't make a scene if I were you"

"Who the hell are you?" Kiba yelled rudely, ignoring the mistake the silver haired boy made by saying 'eight rookies'.

The man, dressed in strange white and purple clothes, smiled softly "My name is Kabuto Yakushi, but really you should look around you"

Naruto narrowed his eyes behind his mask and frowned slightly. As a Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails, he was exceedingly sensitive to negative emotions. Even a speck of negativity could not escape his awareness. This one was oozing off so much hate and malice that it felt suffocating, not to mention the scent of snakes lingering around him.

Naruto hated snakes!

Looking keenly at his face, Naruto could see that everything about the man felt fake and fabricated. His smile, his presence and body language, even his essence felt empty and lost. Everything aside, Naruto knew this man from the Foundation Archives. He used to be a spy for the Foundation and later joined the ranks of Orochimaru to find his true identity.

At least that's what it said. But he knew better than to judge and believe something written by Danzo himself.

He shook himself out of his train of thoughts and listened to the conversation between the rookies and Kabuto. Judging from the course of their conversation, he realized Kabuto was just playing with them.

"So do you have info on the other candidates, individually?" Sasuke asked with narrow eyes, clear skepticism evident in his eyes.

"You have someone special in mind?"

"I might"

Kabuto smiled widely "The answer is yes,"

The black haired Uchiha stepped forward and crossed his arms over his chest "Then give me all the info you have on Gaara of the Desert and Naruto Uzumaki"

"This should be interesting" Naruto muttered under his breath.

Kabuto grinned and pushed his round glasses up the bridge of his nose "You know their names, that's no fun"

Twirling the cards in his hand, he placed a finger in the middle and stopped its movement to reveal Gaara's full Shinobi status,

Name: Gaara of the Desert

Mission Experience: 8 C ranks and 1 B rank

Genjutsu:0

Ninjutsu:3

Taijutsu:1

The glasses wearing Genin widened his eyes in surprise "It's surprising to hear a Genin perform a B rank mission. But even that is nothing compared to the next rumor about him"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes "What rumor?"

As if the guy's mission record wasn't great enough, he had other secrets as well?!

"It's said that he had returned from each and every mission … without a single scratch on his body"

"WHAT!"

"Yes, it's unnerving. I wouldn't wish for anyone to be fighting against him" Kabuto said jokingly.

Naruto turned his gaze around and pinned the aforementioned Genin with a curious gaze. It seems his tail Beast had been helpful in that regard at least, even though he knew the beast was doing it for his own benefit, not the least bit concerned over the boy's health.

Kabuto took out another card and twirled it around "Now for Naruto Uzumaki"

Naruto watched the rotating card with something akin to amusement, knowing the moment to find out if Kabuto truly was a spy or not, was at hand. The card stopped its rotation and showed Naruto's black masked face half hidden by the hood of his cloak.

Name: Naruto Uzumaki

Mission Experience: 1 A rank

Genjutsu:?

Ninjutsu:?

Taijutsu:?

Kabuto narrowed his eyes slightly and turned towards the tall cloaked Jinchuriki who was leaning on a wall on the far side of the room. His information has never ever turned out wrong. He had seen Sasuke's total mission record and knew that they had taken a lot of missions including C and even B ranks. Could it be that Naruto had not gone on those missions?

Or

Naruto had purposely submitted wrong details into his documents? That act alone suggested further investigation. He would keep on an eye on this one.

Naruto hummed in thought and closed his eyes behind his mask, now perfectly sure that he was a spy. He had requested the old man to keep everything about him a secret in exchange for a friendly spar. He had of course lost that spar, but his objective had been completed. He purposely added a fake A rank mission in the documents for further use and requested the Hokage to keep it guarded, which was admittedly a good move on his part.

For Kabuto to know something which he had requested the Hokage to keep guarded was proof enough of his questionable profession. Well, he would've to pay the Hokage a visit regarding a certain silver haired spy.

"Alright, you little maggots, park your asses in your seats and lets get started!" a loud gruff voice announced from the front of the room.

Naruto turned his gaze towards the source of the sound and smirked behind his mask "Quite the colorful words, Ibiki"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Two hours later**

Naruto eyed the enormous trees of the one forest he had come to cherish with all his cold and detached heart despite its threatening atmosphere. In fact, its untrustworthy and precarious mature was one of the many factors that he had come to admire. You will never learn to be aware of your surrounding until and unless you were threatened all the time.

The Forest of Death was as comforting and as welcoming as the open jaws of a hungry lion waiting to devour you right down to the bones. The present Genins from all the rivaling nations were practically shaking in their boots or rather in their sandals as they stood in front of the forest. Anko's Cheshire grin full of unrestrained thirst for blood wasn't entirely helping their fear induced states.

Honestly, that woman was a handful.

They had just finished their written test and the Genins had been cut down to almost their half number. The moment Naruto saw the scarred interrogator, he knew that the test would have some sort of concealed motive and had been proven correct.

The scarred Jonin had a sadistic side far superior to even Anko, who he had dubbed as the 'Craziest Woman ever'. He had met the man after being literally dragged to the Torture and Interrogation Department by Anko to witness her working her magic on a poor victim. Their introduction had been a rather tense one, though the mentally deranged woman had taken great pleasure in seeing them eye each other like rivals.

After being stared at for a few minutes, Ibiki had relented before introducing himself in his gruff voice. Ever since that day, he had visited the Department to witness him work simple but brutal methods to extract information from a spy. In all honesty, Naruto admired very few people in this village or the Shinobi world and Ibiki was one of them.

The man toyed with people's feelings and emotions without a hint of remorse or his personal feelings, his face devoid of any sort of discomfort in regards to his job, not afraid to use any means necessary to get the info he required. That trait alone made him a man worthy of being called a true Shinobi.

The test he had given them was one even he was willing to admit, was sophisticated in all its simplicity. He was willing to agree with the man that getting info was essential beyond anything else. To jump into a situation or a battle without even knowing the layouts of your surrounding as well as the weaknesses and strengths of your foe was not only stupid but suicidal.

As for the woman herself, Naruto couldn't help but groan as soon as she showed up, even if slightly. She seemed to absolutely adore teasing him, going as far as wrapping her snakes around him just so she could get a reaction from him. Well, he would admit that she had gotten it several times, particularly after trapping him in her snakes which he would burn to unrecognizable pile of ashes.

He hated snakes and she seemed to have figured that out after witnessing him burn every single one he had come across in the forest. He had also learned that she had been the reason why Kurenai seemed determined to get a reaction out of him, be it a sigh or a snappish retort. For that act alone, he had a bone to pick with her.

When it came to her abilities, Naruto was willingly to swallow his pride and say that she was much, much stronger than him in every conceivable way except strength and speed. The tactics, the strategies and the tricks that she would use would always leave him puzzled and opened for an attack. Only his superior sense of awareness and speed had saved him from receiving some rather nasty snake bites.

He had fought with the Hokage as well, however whereas the old man relayed more on his superior battle experience, Anko relayed more on her instincts to survive. Her agility and fluidity in battle bore resemblance to the snakes he so despised. In all honesty, he was willing to say that she was the only snake summoner that he did not hate. Though he could have lived without being teased every opportunity she would get, like right now,

"Anko, for the last time, I am not saying it" Naruto stated in an impassive voice, though a skilled observer could hear the tenseness and slight hint of annoyance in his tone.

"Aww come on, just say it" She whined childishly and draped her hands over his tall shoulders like a child.

The other Genins looked on with goldfish and slightly jealous eyes as the proctor of the second part of the Chunin Exam draped herself over the spooky and threatening Genin, eyes wide in childlike innocence and a pout on her face. Though the jealous looks could certainly be justified, considering her mode of dress.

Even Sasuke and Sakura were left with their jaws dropped and wide eyes of shock as they watched the scene. This had been going since they left the classroom where they had given the written test. Naruto had simply sat there like a motionless statue without trying to answer the questions. When the scarred Proctor mentioned that the actual purpose of the exam was to test the skills of a Ninja in gathering info in the most adverse circumstances, they realized that they had wasted their time by writing those answers.

Imagine their shock when the tenth question turned out to be a trick as well. Its actual purpose was to test whether the Genins would choose to quit and try another time or risk it all and win. They had been hoping, well Sakura was anyway, that the tall blond would at least tell them what was going on in his head during that part of the test, yet he had remained as stoic and as detached as always.

And that is when the nut-job known as the second Proctor of the Exam jumped through the closed window of the classroom, breaking the glass in the process before throwing a banner with her name boldly written upon it. Her grand entrance was over as soon as she had seen the ever imposing presence of the tall Jinchuriki and his fox companion who had been resting near his sitting form.

Sakura never thought she would see a grin so wide appear on anyone's face as Anko.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Flashback

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ibiki turned away his piercing gaze from the surprised Genins and stared at the window expectantly, knowing exactly what would happen next. Even though he had exclusively told her to not do it, he knew she would do it simply to annoy him. Then again, if she didn't went against what people thought or expected of her, she wouldn't be Anko.

"Here we go" He muttered under his breath, spotting a curled up black ball speeding towards the closed window. From the side of his peripheral vision, he could've sworn that he saw Naruto twitch slightly, though that could've been his imagination.

The Genins jumped at once when the glass window shattered with a loud sound and a black ball entered with incredible swiftness. The ball twirled around and four Kunais were sent flying towards the four sides, two for the floor and two for the roof. The black ball revealed itself to be a cloth banner wrapped around a scantily clad woman, wearing a trench coat, mesh armor reaching up to her middle thighs and short orange skirt.

"Alright you little pieces of shit, I am Anko Mitarashi, Proctor of the second part of the Chunin Exam. So move your assess from the chairs and lets get going!" She shouted cheerfully and pumped her fist towards the roof, causing the present Genins to reveal several variations of emotions. Some were scared beyond belief and were ready to flee the room in the first sign of danger, some sweatdropped and some, ok, most were aroused and flaring their nostrils with wide perverted grins.

"Anko, you are early… again" Ibiki peeked out of the side of the banner with a dry look on his face.

"You are too late, Ibiki!" the pineapple haired woman replied snappishly, causing the present Genins to sweatdrop "You must be getting old if you have let this many pass"

Ibiki grinned widely; a glint of mischief brewing in his narrow eyes "Maybe, this year is different considering…"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly behind his mask when he realized what Ibiki was about to do "Oh no"

"…that Naruto is here as well"

Naruto groaned softly behind his mask when he heard that. He should've known that the scarred Jonin would sell him out.

Anko's eyes widened in surprise and delight, lips stretched into a wide grin "You mean foxy is here! Where?"

Ibiki gestured towards a visibly uncomfortable Naruto with a wide evil grin. That should teach the tall blond never to mess with him. To think a man, who prided himself on being a player of other people's emotions, would lose to a mere Genin in Shogi! He had been laughed at by Anko so many times, it wasn't even funny!

The Genins turned towards the tall cloaked man with wide unbelieving eyes, wondering how he even knew the seemingly crazy but provocative lady, though none were more surprised than those who knew Naruto from the times of the Academy.

"FOXY!" The loud shout full of joy and childish pleasure was followed by a loud boom from Anko's sandals leaving behind a small crater where she previously stood as she rocketed towards her target with her arms stretched wide "COME HERE!"

"Slow down, Anko…"

Unfortunately, his words of warning fell on deaf ears as a speeding Anko collided with his standing form and sent him as well as her flying towards the far wall of the room, forcing the wind out of his lungs from the force of the impact. Akuma sprung up from his sleep with a loud growl and narrow menacing eyes full of venom as he detected the lack of his master's presence but rested down immediately after seeing who it was.

"Traitor" Naruto gave his fox companion a deadpan look as he shook the stars from his eyes and tried to ignore the bone crushing force of the hug the Proctor was giving him. Even though it didn't hurt much since his body was modified and trained to utmost perfection, it was still uncomfortable to feel another body coming into contact with his own in such an intimate way

The look his fox gave him akin to regret and smugness wasn't helping his situation any.

"So you thought you could hide from Anko Mitarashi, eh foxy? Well think again!" She stated in a firm but teasing voice, still straddling his waist as he reclined on the ground.

"If you are quite done, Anko, I would like to regain the last vestiges of my shattered dignity" Naruto replied in a blank but sarcastic tone, trying to not appear uncomfortable with her 'assets' so close to his face.

Anko grinned even widely "Don't even think about it, Foxy, you are not leaving this place until you tell me why you have been hiding your blond ass from me?"

Naruto forced himself into a sitting position while the woman sat there unmoving, arms crossed and a pout on her face "I was busy"

"Too busy to even visit me, the Great Anko Mitarashi?!" She asked with a wide bloodthirsty grin and pulled out a Kunai from her holster, nearing it dangerously close to his mask "Want me to reveal to the little maggots back there what you are hiding behind this mask?"

Naruto almost groaned at the teasing threat. She was, unfortunately, the third person who had seen his face and was using every opportunity she would get to see his face "That won't be necessary. Now, would you mind getting off me, you are giving the Genins back there quite a show"

Anko blinked cutely and looked over her shoulder towards the Genins with a confused look on her face. Some of the Genins were sporting wide grins of perverseness with a little blood dripping down their noses, some, particularly the females, were giving her the stink eye for behaving in such vulgar manner while Ibiki had his faced covered by his palm.

"What are you maggots looking at? Can't you see I am having some private moments with my foxy here?! Look to the front!" She snapped, causing the Genins to jump and twirl around with incredible swiftness, sheepish looks on their faces. Satisfied with their reactions, the pineapple haired woman turned her attention back to the teen beneath her, a wide mischievous smirk on her face as she leaned forward "Talking about giving shows, you are enjoying this, aren't ya? You crafty little fox!"

"No" Naruto replied flatly.

She grinned provocatively "Then what is this that I feel under me?"

To emphasize her words, she grounded herself down on his waist with a Cheshire grin on her face, all the while gazing at his masked covered visage expectantly "Must you be so indecent?"

Knowing that she didn't receive the reaction she was looking for, since the damn mask was hiding his face, she pouted "Indecent? You talk about indecent when you have your eyes for Nai-chan? She is old enough to be your grandma"

"There is nothing between us and I am sure she would be quite delighted to hear you call her old. Now get off" Naruto stated blankly and tried to force himself up, but she didn't even budge from her place.

Pouting over not receiving the response she was hoping for, she pressed her hands on his cloaked covered torso, feeling the rock hard marble for a chest under her hands and smirked "Ok I'll let you up, but you have to say that you missed me"

Naruto didn't even blink and actually used his strength to pick her up and place on her feet like a child, ignoring her indignant look "No"

"Aww come on!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Flashback End**

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"Come on!"

"No"

"Please?"

"No"

"Can you say something other than no?"

"No"

"Arghh"

The Genins looked on with dropped jaws and wide comical eyes as the two argued without a care in the world. It was as if they didn't exist! That was utterly rude! Sasuke and Sakura, like the other Rookie nine, were quickly becoming tired of the argument and wanted to just get the exam over with already. Luckily, Shino came to their rescue as he stepped forward, hands in his long coat "Naruto, would please say what she wants, why? Because everyone is getting irritated"

Anko gave the considerably taller Genin an approving look "See, even the creepy brat agrees with me. So come on, out with it"

Naruto palmed his face with his sleeve covered hand and sighed, causing the pineapple haired Proctor to smirk expectantly "I… missed you"

"See that wasn't hard" She grinned victoriously and untangled her hands around Naruto's neck to walk to the front with a provocative sway to her hips.

Losing the grin on her face, Anko gazed at the Genins seriously and raised a stack of papers "These are the consent forms. In case any of you poor saps die, the Leaf will not be held responsible. You are to fill these and submit them in that tent over there. Now get you assess over here and get these, I am going to have a very private and intimate chat with my foxy!"

Naruto almost groaned in resignation, discreetly looking around for his absent fox who he could sworn had been standing beside him a few minutes ago.

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So what do you think?

Review


	9. Chapter 9: Chunin Exam Part 2

**Chunin Exam Part 2**

 **Disclaimer= I don't own Naruto or Techniques from any other anime etc.**

 **LetsSeeIfICanDoThisToo: that mistake has been corrected. To make sure, go to the first chap and read it again.**

 **Draconic Reborn: No, it was a mistake and I have corrected it now. As for Zabuza falling for such a simple trick, well, have you seen the battle between Deidara and Sasuke? If you have, then you may have noticed that Sasuke provoked Deidara by simply glaring at him!**

 **Hulk9970: His relation with Konohamaru at chapter 8 was simply a way to describe some of Naruto's past, not any resentment or coldness towards the boy himself.**

 **Rangle: So do you agree with me or not?**

 **Herat: Yes, they are together, so yeah you can sigh in relief.**

 **Lara5170: I am not trying to make fun of you, I just find your incredible sense of curiosity highly amusing. As for Kabuto, well he already knew Naruto as Sasuke's teammate but didn't have any solid info regarding his personality and abilities.**

 **Roshane: it's a possibility.**

 **Jh831: yup and believe me when Naruto use it, it will be epic! As for Sasuke being dead last, he is not the dead last of the class. The Civilian Council forced the Hokage to put the first two highest scoring Genins with the Kunoichi of the Year, meaning Sakura with Naruto and Sasuke.**

 **Question of the Day (** **An old lady in the United States has a heart attack and dials 911. No one came and she died. How could this have happened?** **)**

 **Winners (Jerico516, Super Saiyan Rose Goku Black,)**

 **Answer of the Previous Question (** **There were no stairs because it was a one story house!** **)**

 **AN: My sincere gratitude toward each and every reviewer. Now, towards the issue of Team Guy, I was bugged so much that instead of writing another chapter, I went back and corrected that particular mistake. I mean so many of asked about it and I answered each and every review the same, yet some would ask again. At least some of you were nice about It.! I mean come on! Hope you are happy with this because I don't want to hear another word about it.**

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 **Forest of Death**

Team 7 sprinted through the dense foliage of trees in the notorious forest, Sasuke and Sakura at the front keeping an eye out for frontal attacks and Naruto as well as Akuma at the back keeping the team guarded from sneak attacks. Even though, he was more than enough to deal with some foolish Genins, he had produced a few clones and positioned them around the team in a 50 meter radius along with an additional clone to search for an Earth scroll.

Call him a paranoid man, but he was of the opinion that it was better to be safe than sorry.

It had been only a few minutes since the start of the Exam and so far they hadn't encountered any Genin hell bent on taking their scroll, though it was more likely than not that some would appear anytime soon. He would've preferred to move faster but Sasuke and Sakura had proven that they couldn't move any faster than they already were, which wasn't much if he had anything to say about it.

To think they would've improved in these past six months.

Sure, Sasuke had improved quite a bit than he had expected, obviously a product of the awakening of his bloodline, but it was still far less than what was necessary. Sakura on the other hand, had proven quite disappointing in that regard.

Hiding himself from the ever teasing and frankly annoying Anko had been a real hassle. She seemed determined to rub the fact that he had admitted something which obviously hadn't been true in the slightest. Honestly if it hadn't been for Shino interfering and the fact that he had an Exam to perform, he would've never admitted anything.

Still, it had given him enough time to analyze a few of the Genins who seemed intent on observing their actions. A few Genins, three particular Genins from the Grass Village with disgusting scent of snakes lingering around them, had gotten his attention. He would've waved off their leers as nothing but the disgusting stares of hormonal teenagers but there was just something about the glint in one particular Grass Genin's eyes that caused alarms to go off in his head.

Being an emotion sensor, he had felt a repulsive aggregate of negative emotions from the Grass-nin, so nauseating in fact that it had been hard not to unleash the full force of his compressed Chakra and crush him/her.

From what he had observed discreetly behind his mask, the Genin had the physical appearance of a female yet the scent of a man intertwined with snakes. He couldn't wave off the nagging feeling of suspicion at the back of his head whenever he thought about him or her. There were several conclusions that came to his mind but he had no authentic evidence to prove the validity of those said conclusions.

Shaking his head, Naruto replaced himself with a clone behind him to take care of a particular nuisance that seemed intent on following them, to a trap if he guessed correctly. The hulking mass of crimson fur known as Akuma gave his master a sideway glance but otherwise remained undisturbed by what was happening, knowing Naruto could take care of it.

Team 7 raced towards the Central Tower, leaving behind the real Naruto to deal with their would-be-hunter. Naruto flipped backward and landed softly on a high branch, standing up to his imposing height with his hands by his side as he waited for the Genin to appear.

He didn't have to wait much as the aforementioned man appeared a few moments later but stopped when he saw Naruto's tall form standing on a tree. The cloaked Jinchuriki raised an eyebrow at the Genin's, from the Hidden Rain if the Headband was any indication, strange garb as well as facial accessories as the Genin landed in front of him on a tree branch.

Light yellow uniform along a with a face mask, quite the strange garb for a forest mission.

'Let's see, this is where they start bragging about their battle prowess and making useless threats of death should the offender not offer them the desired object' Naruto mused in his head.

Sure enough, his thoughts were proven correct when the Genin opened his mouth, or so Naruto thought because he couldn't exactly see anything behind his mask.

"So you sensed my presence, well done! I am impressed that a Genin like you were able to sense me but that won't help you in this case. Hand over the scroll and you won't get hurt!" he started, though his voice came out distorted due to the presence of his mask.

"Perhaps we can find an alternative. How about you hand over your scroll and I may consider leaving you alive" Naruto replied expressionlessly, his voice as cold as an ice berg.

The masked Genin blinked several times before his eyes scrunched visibly and released an audible growl "Oh yeah! Then come and try it"

As soon as the words left his mouth, his eyes widened in pain and shock, spit and blood flew out of his wide mouth as an unbelievably hard punch found its home upon his torso, forcing him to be sent flying back first into the trunk of a tree.

Coughing up a few wads of blood, the Genin gingerly looked up with dilated eyes and saw the tall cloaked man standing in front of him like a statue. He hadn't even seen him move, let alone punch him in the abdomen! One second he was standing there and then next he had his hand buried in his stomach! "H-how!?"

"Hand over the scroll" Naruto stated coldly and extended his hand towards the slumped Genin who was too busy glaring a hole through his mask covered face. Seeing as the Rain ninja Chunin hopeful was too arrogant to admit defeat, the cloaked Jinchuriki sighed in displeasure and uncurled his other glove covered hand in front of the Genin as it lit in reddish black flames.

"W-what the hell are y-you doing!" the downed Rain ninja stuttered and backed away against the trunk of the tree.

Naruto ignored his question and slammed his hand over the Genin's torso, causing said ninja to scream out in agony as the unbelievably hot torrent of flames were sent rushing through his body, burning and frying cells from the inside out "The scroll, NOW"

Try as he might, the Rain-nin couldn't find the courage to deny him or the endurance to not be bothered by the pain coursing through his body due to the scorching flames. Sluggishly and numbed due to the incredible pain, he raised his hand in defeat and reached for his pocket to pick out the scroll as Naruto stopped his torture and backed away, just in case.

The Genin produced the scroll from his pocket and handed it over to the tall cloaked man with shaky hands, a clear imprint of a hand etched into the skin of his torso as blood poured out with incredible vigor.

The tall Jinchuriki reached for the scroll and examined it with a calm look, it turned out, much to his disappointment, an Earth scroll similar to their own. Shrugging to himself and without even bothering to gaze at the bleeding Genin, Naruto pocketed the scroll, knowing it would lessen the competitors in the Preliminary Exams and walked away.

Just because the scroll was not the one he wanted didn't mean that he would let the chance of sabotaging other Genins' chance of passing the test. It was not a world where one could afford being soft and considerate for the wellbeing of others. By taking the scroll, he had just guaranteed the failure of three Genins, meaning less competition or more like three less nuisance for him to deal with.

Seeing as his back was turned, the bleeding Rain-nin made one last ditched effort to take back what he had lost and threw a paper bomb secured to a kunai, jumping away with a hand on his chest to stop the bleeding as the clearing exploded in a brilliant shower of flames.

 **Fire Style: Fireball Barrage**

The last sound and the last thing the bleeding Genin heard or saw was the swooshing sounds of something unknown and a barrage of large fireballs descending upon him from above like a pack of hungry wolves before he was blasted to flaming pieces.

Naruto walked undisturbed through the foliage of trees without even looking back at the destruction he had caused with his technique. He had shown mercy upon the Genin by leaving him alive yet he had repaid his act of kindness by throwing a paper bomb laced kunai with his back turned? Such ungratefulness!

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 **Back with Team 7**

Naruto flash-stepped through the forest and replaced himself with his clone before sending it back to its position at the back. Sasuke and Sakura remained oblivious to the proceedings around them, ignorant of the destruction he had caused a few moments ago and ignorant of the life he had taken as they moved forward.

His head snapped to the back of the group when one of his clones was dispelled by something unknown, his senses went off as they were assaulted by emotion of repulsive madness and insanity. Whoever he/she was, they clearly meant business.

Akuma suddenly stopped tree-hopping and stood on all fours upon a tree, clear malice and danger flaring in his eyes as he looked around. Naruto nodded his head in approval at the fox's quick reaction at the face of danger, oddly feeling satisfied that his training of the fox had been a success. He needed a companion he could relay on in the direst of circumstances and Akuma was proving himself worthy of being that companion.

Sasuke and Sakura turned around when they heard the fox growl dangerously and stop his movements, coming to a stop atop a tree as they gazed at their third mysterious member with clear confusion.

"Don't stop no matter what" Naruto stated firmly and jumped to stand next to his foxy companion, causing the two members to look at him in even more confusion. Before they could open their mouths, an enormous surge of wind came rushing towards their general location and swept them off their feet to send them skidding several feet away.

Sasuke and Sakura were sent flying through the thick trees and slammed to the ground, clear cuts and bruises evident on their clothes and skin as they attempted to stand up again in order to see what they were up against.

Naruto and Akuma stood undisturbed atop the tree branch as they waited for the daring attacker, though judging from the amount of Chakra that had been poured into the Jutsu and the destruction it had caused, Naruto doubted he could take care of this one as quickly as he had dealt with the Rain-nin.

"He he, you withstood that, how interesting!" a clearly feminine voice full of sick amusement and interest reverberated through the clearing

Naruto looked around for the source of the sound but unfortunately was being met with failure. Whoever it was, she clearly knew how to conceal herself. Sending a discreet signal to his two teammates, he sighed in relief when Sasuke picked up on it and shot towards the tower with Sakura upon his shoulders.

He was glad that the Uchiha forgot his sense of pride and admitted that this was one foe he will not be able to beat. If he hadn't picked up on the signal, Naruto would've blasted him and that pink girl to countless pieces, consequences be damned. If they couldn't even understand a few signals, then they were useless to him and his cause.

Seeing as the two were out of the jaws of danger, Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated to find the intruder, only for his closed eyes to widen in surprise when he felt the person behind him. He turned around just in time to block a punch to his stomach but the force of the punch was still strong enough to send skidding to the ground.

Akuma turned around with a growl and attacked, claws and jaws ready to pierce through the daring attacker, only for the said assaulter to vanish without a trace. Seeing as he couldn't find the person, the fox jumped from the tree and stood next to his kneeling master.

"That was an impressive block, Naruto" the attacker announced in amusement while Naruto looked around the clearing with a blank look on his face "However, I am curious as to how you were able to train your physical body so much that it even hurt my hand when I punched you"

Naruto stood up stiffly and stood as still as a statue, wondering how this strange woman even know his name while Akuma looked around the clearing with constant growls "To be able to bypass my senses, you must be quite skilled in the art of stealth"

Without any indication of an attack, Naruto suddenly turned around and fired an enormous fire dragon at a tree, blasting it to pieces as a shadow jumped away just before the dragon connected with the plant.

The shadow jumped to another tree branch and stood up with a chuckle, revealing herself to be the same Grass-nin Naruto had been wary of. The woman was a black haired female dressed in a yellow dress, a purple robe tied around her waist, a straw hat on her head and black pants.

"Well, you are certainly full of surprises" she chuckled with a wide grin full of sick intentions and lowered her straw hat "a Fire Style Jutsu without any hand signs, wonderful"

"I think I shall consider that as a compliment, though I do not need praises from the likes of you… Orochimaru" Naruto stated in monotone, now sure of the true identity of this female.

The disgustingly pungent scent of snakes, the overwhelming torrents of suffocating malice and vile intention and the feelings of insanity oozing off of his Chakra was a dead giveaway. He had seen the Curse Mark on Anko's shoulder many times and thus was familiar with the hate-filled Chakra emitting from it, which alone had confirmed his suspicion.

"You figured it out, did you? You are even more intelligent than the reports had made you out to be" she said with a chuckle and reached for her face before pulling off the skin in a disgusting fashion, revealing the sickly white and pale face of the famously dangerous Sannin, Orochimaru.

The clearing was bombarded with a suffocating killing intent, so vile, so malicious and so disgusting that even Akuma flinched for a second before growling like a rabid beast. Naruto on the other hand, while impressed by its potency, remained undisturbed seeing as he had been subjected to the heart-stopping killing intent of the nine tailed beast.

Compared to the KI of that beast, Orochimaru's looked more like a child trying to appear intimidating. Sure, the Sannin was powerful and a man he was not willing to tangle with at the moment, he was a little disappointed from the show of intimidation. He had heard many stories from the Hokage about his power and battle prowess, but if this was the extent of his KI, then clearly his reputation was highly exaggerated.

Orochimaru despite keeping an amused outward appearance, was impressed beyond belief. He had seen many experienced Jonins tremble and shiver under the full brunt force of his killing intent, yet this Genin seemed entirely undisturbed. Amusingly enough, he seemed more disappointed than scared. Such interesting boy this was! He would need to play with him for a while before going after Sasuke, after all, he may prove beneficial to his cause.

"I suppose that presentation was to frighten the insects surrounding your body?" Naruto asked blankly with a hint of sarcasm and stood straight, discreetly signaling for Akuma to prepare himself.

He knew beyond any shred of doubt that he won't be able to defeat Orochimaru at his current level of power, thus he needed to find a way to force him to leave and there was only one way to do that. He just hoped the plan succeeded or he may be forced to use his triumph card and thus destroy his body along with Orochimaru's.

The fox somehow understood the signal and bent a little low as if preparing for a fight. The tall Jinchuriki nodded in approval and looked towards the snake Sannin who seemed content to simply stand there with a smug look on his sickly pale visage.

"Let's just say that you have grasped my interest, Naruto Uzumaki, I hope you do not turn out to be a waste of my time" the Sannin retorted with a smug grin, not the least bit bothered by the insult, and licked his lips with his abnormally large tongue.

"You give entirely new meaning to the word creepy" the tall cloaked Genin voiced blankly and discreetly raised a single finger underneath his cloak while Orochimaru looked on with amusement.

 **Fire Style: Scorching Inferno**

Orochimaru's eyes widen in pleasant surprise when an enormous stream of scorching flames was sent flying towards him out of the blue with incredible swiftness.

 **Wind Style: Gale Palm**

His already wide eyes of astonishment widened even further when a large amount of Wind Chakra was sent towards the midst of the flames, causing it to increase in magnitude and intensity as it raced towards him before engulfing his body entirely.

The clearing was reduced to a flaming mess, trees and small plants were burned beyond recognition, formerly green and lively grass was turned to nothing but a black grave of ashes. Amidst the chaos, a shadow leaped out of the smoke and debris as it raced towards the opposite side of the tower.

Naruto lowered his finger and stood in the scorched clearing with his eyes closed behind his mask, senses heightened to their max as he searched for the Sannin. A simple fire style, admittedly a powerful one enhanced by his Wind Style Jutsu, but still a simple one will never be able to deal with him, he was sure of that.

"How surprising to see a mere Genin perform a Fire Style of that magnitude and enhance it with Wind Style without the use of any hand signs, you are starting to become very interesting by the minute" Orochimaru stated with an amused chuckle as he emerged from the ground without a scratch on his body, which Naruto expected as much. The man was simply too powerful to be ever caught by a simple Jutsu like that without the element of surprise.

"Sorry to disappoint you but I don't sway towards that side" the tall Jinchuriki retorted impassively.

"Amusing but that's not what I meant" the pale Sannin voiced out with a somewhat strained chuckle, causing Naruto to smirk behind his mask.

Before Naruto could speak, the Sannin jumped from the tree with a wide grin on his face and delivered an impressive combination of kicks and punches which even forced the ever impassive and analytical Genin to be on the defensive. The bloodthirsty grin on his face was not welcomed in the slightest but Naruto couldn't exactly comment on it since the man was keeping him occupied.

Despite being so fast and agile, Orochimaru couldn't keep the grin of excitement and interest from leaving his face when he witnessed the Genin's incredible battle experience as well as his absolute defensive capabilities. The boy's instincts and battle honed senses were so incredible that his own battle loving instincts were forcing him to slowly but surely put more and more power into his blows without even realizing it.

'And to think he is only a mere Genin!' he mused with a wide grin as he landed a particularly hard kick on the said Genin's stomach and sent him flying towards a tree before firing a fireball at him. However, said Genin composed himself and rolled in midair to land on his feet atop the trunk of the tree, before vanishing away to avoid a fireball rushing towards him.

'His astonishingly resilient body is another thing I am curious about' the pale Sannin thought with a grimace as he tried to ignore the stinging sensation in his foot. Even his medically enhanced and modified body was not able to keep the pain from escalating. He knew the Genin had a hard body since he had experienced that for himself when he had first punched the boy, but he had still been skeptic until now.

Naruto appeared above a tree with a frown on his face as he looked at the pale Sannin. His theories were proven wrong from that brief encounter. The man had been holding back when he had released his KI at the beginning of their fight, but had only put a little more power behind his blows after witnessing him block all his attacks.

The sheer agility, flexibility and swiftness of his blows were impressive. The man appeared as though he had no bone in his body with the way he was moving. He had tried to predict his movements and yet had been met with failure. He was unpredictable, just like a snake.

However, Naruto had to thank his brilliant mind for coming up with ways to strengthen his body, otherwise that last blow would've knocked him out due to its sheer strength. His invulnerability and enhanced senses were the only thing keeping him alive at the moment, even though he knew the man was holding back.

Though, the sickly pale Sannin wasn't the only one who was holding back.

Leaping at the contemplating Sannin, Naruto reached for his pocket underneath the cloak and threw a few shurikens at his still form before swiftly running through a series of hand signs,

 **Shuriken Shadow Clone**

The thrown shurikens were increased in numbers and sent flying towards the Sannin who looked on with clear delight in his golden eyes.

 **Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu**

The flying stars caught on fire and looked akin to reddish flowers rushing through the air towards the Sannin. Orochimaru vanished from the path of the flaming shurikens and appeared a few feet away with a wide smirk, however his smug smirk turned to one of horror when he saw the tall cloaked Genin above him with his hands on fire.

 **Fire Style: Five Finger Blast Punch**

Naruto landed in front of the Sannin in incredible speed and without giving said Sanin time, slammed his flaming hands into the man's torso, causing the Sannin to spit out blood and look on with horror as his internal organs and tissues were blasted from his back.

The secret of the Five Finger Blast Punch was that it relayed on incredible speed to move through the guard of one's opponent, slam both hands into the foe's torso before suddenly releasing Wind augmented Fire Chakra in a violent show of power to either blast or fry the internal organs. A messy technique, but a highly effective one.

Naruto frowned heavily when the Orochimaru he had killed turned into mud and dissolved into the ground. A Mud Clone? He should've known the man would use such tricks seeing as he was known for being sneaky and cunning.

"I have to say you have grasped my interest, Naruto, but sadly I don't have time to play with you. However, there was no need to send your foxy companion to inform the ANBU since I have completed what I came for" Orochimaru's disembodied voice along with a chuckle reverberated through the scorched clearing as Naruto looked around "We will meet again, Naruto, I look forward to your progress"

The tall Jinchuriki released a slight grunt of annoyance as he listened to the disembodied voice before it vanished completely. He had sent Akuma to inform the ANBU black ops stationed outside the forest and had deliberately used high level techniques to alert said ANBU without appearing suspicious, but it seemed the Sannin had known about his intentions all along.

He had underestimated the man's intelligence as well as his prowess, which alone was disheartening since he had always prided himself on being able to read the expressions of his opponents. Well, at least he learned one thing from this encounter and that was to never ever underestimate his opponents again, either strong or weak.

Coming to the objective Orochimaru had mentioned, he knew it had something to do with Sasuke. The old Hokage had mentioned the man's obsession with learning all the techniques of the world, thus he needed the Sharingan to achieve that goal, though he didn't know how the man would get the Sharingan and what he meant by saying that he had achieved his objective.

Frowning to himself due to the lack of information, Naruto looked around the clearing one last time before sprinting off into the distance

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 **Team 7, A Few Minutes Later**

Naruto and Akuma arrived back to their position and saw the somewhat predictable sight of a bruised Sasuke passed out and a similarly bruised Sakura tending to him while surrounded by traps. Without even waiting for Sakura to start talking, Naruto flew over the traps and effortlessly slung her over his shoulder, leaving Akuma to take Sasuke's shirt in his jaw to pick him up as they started their trek to the central tower.

"Naruto, where the hell were you?! We were almost killed by that creepy Orochimaru guy!" she shouted in an annoyed voice, though her cheeks were tinged a little bit red due to her un-lady-like position on his shoulder.

"You checked?" came the ever impassive and detached voice of her teammate, causing her to blink in confusion.

"Checked what?"

"If he was a male or female?"

Sakura's cheeks redden in anger and a little bit of embarrassment at the question as well as his audacity to ask her something like that "What the hell is wrong with you? I am talking about us being almost killed and all you ask is if I have checked whether he was a male or female!"

Naruto gave her a look over his shoulder as they raced through the forest "You said that you were almost killed by that Orochimaru guy so I presumed you had checked the validity of that particular claim since I have to admit I have my doubts"

Despite her troubled state of both mind and body, she finally realized his true motive behind the question and smiled gratefully. He was trying to lighten the mood and make her forget the oddities of their situation "Thank you"

Though she couldn't tell what he was expressing behind his mask, she could at least tell that he was surprised by her statement. It seems he had expected her to not see underneath the underneath and find his true intentions, which admittedly made her a little annoyed. I mean come on! She was a Kunoichi, she could tell that much.

"No need. Always keep calm and analyze your situation in order to avoid irrational decisions" he stated firmly and looked back towards the front "Now, tell me what happened?"

Sakura related the tale of their dilemma and Naruto had to admit the man had played him well. It seems the real Orochimaru had been here all along, playing with Sasuke and Sakura before marking the former with a Curse Mark. Judging from the shape and feel of the Mark, Naruto knew it was a new one specifically designed for the boy and quite different from the one placed on Anko.

How would marking one individual with the Curse Mark make it easier for Orochimaru to get the Sharingan? As much as he hated to admit it, he had little to no information about the Curse Mark. He would've to rectify that particular mistake in a few hours if he needed to remove the Mark from Anko and to a lesser extent, Sasuke.

Seeing as they were still far away from the Tower and if their pace was any indication, they won't be able to reach any time soon, Naruto gave a discreet nod to his companion who showed his approval by letting out a muffled growl, before he suddenly stopped atop a tree branch and let go of his sleepy pink haired teammate.

Before she could protest, Naruto took a hold of her piggyback style and gave her a look behind his mask that instantly stopped her from saying anything "Close your eyes, hang on tight and don't open them until and unless I say so, understood?"

Giving a meek nod, Sakura rested her head on his broad and surprisingly muscular back to ease her mind, to forget about what had happened today and pray that Sasuke would survive as she felt ferocious wind sweeping past her but without her eyes, she couldn't tell what was happening.

Naruto and Akuma continuously used Flashsteps to race towards the Central Tower the rest of the way, the ferocious currents of wind rushed and collided with their speeding bodies but not enough to stop them from moving on towards their destination.

Along the way, a somewhat annoyed Jinchuriki left a lot of scorched corpses of daring attackers, burned craters and wildlife. And that is when a particular thorn on his side appeared in his fake and empty sense of glory.

"Hey guys, would you slow down for a bit?" a kindly smiling Kabuto asked as he caught up to the tall cloaked Genin who had slow down for a few minutes to catch his breathe.

"Get lost! I have neither the time nor the patience to deal with the likes of you" Naruto stated in a chilling tone and sped forward, leaving behind a shredded tree branch.

Kabuto didn't even see the attack before it was delivered considering it was sudden and unexpected. One second he was racing alongside their speeding team with a kind smile on his face and the next an enormous wind enhanced fire dragon collided with his body and sent him flying into the distance. Only his battle-hardened reflexes had stopped from being killed and endurances from screaming in pain as he witnessed his badly burned and shredded body.

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 **Central Tower, A Few Hours Later**

Team 7 arrived at the Central Tower of the dangerous forest after a few hours of intense travel, well intense for Naruto and Akuma since they were the ones who had used Flashstep in continuous succession. Sakura had fallen asleep on his back during the ride while Sasuke had remained blissfully unaware of the proceedings around him.

Apparently, their team was the second team that had arrived at the tower, the first being the Sand team.

He had gotten a few scrolls from the poor saps that had attacked him in front of the tower with the intention of taking their scrolls. By his calculation, he had at least burned five Genins to smoking crisps with no chance of ever passing the exam or even being alive. The rest, well, the rest had suffered some extreme fire burns enough for them to be dropped out of the exam.

He had at least burned three Earth scrolls to prevent others from getting their hands on them since he had need for them to begin with. The only thing that could drop his mood even further would be to see that snake Sannin along with his lackey Kabuto. Fortunately for them, they were not present at the tower when he entered.

He laid Sasuke and Sakura on the floor and examined the two scrolls from behind his mask. Cautiously, he opened both and examined the seals engraved on them. Judging from the seal arrays, they were most likely used for summoning and if the smoke coming from it was any indication, he was right.

The tall Jinchuriki threw both of the scrolls and stood to the side appearing calm, but still defensive in case someone tried to attack. Just because he had gotten to the tower didn't mean that the Exam was over or that no one would dare to attack him.

With a puff of smoke, the telltale signs of a summoning seal, his old teacher from the Academy appeared amidst the fog. Judging from the look of surprise on his face, he hadn't exactly been expecting to be summoned so early and so suddenly.

Shaking the after effects of the summoning from his eyes, Iruka took in the visage of his tall and mysterious student with a look akin to surprise and pride, briefly forgetting the other two members of Team 7 "Naruto, nice to see you again and congratulations on passing the second part of the Chunin Exam. I honestly didn't expect to be summoned so early"

The tall Jinchuriki nodded in respect "A pleasure to see you as well, Iruka"

The dolphin-like Chunin smiled in content, feeling glad that he was at least gaining the trust of the cold and detached Genin before realization dawned on him as he looked behind the tall Genin to see the ever imposing form of Akuma standing over a sleeping Sakura and an unconscious Sasuke "What happened to them?"

Naruto waved off the Chunin's concern "They are alright, but I need to have a talk with the Hokage. When is he due to arrive at the Tower?"

Iruka couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the curt response as he walked towards his injured students "Not until the last day of the Exam, why?"

"Can you inform him that I wish to speak with him about an important matter?" Naruto asked in an impassive tone that didn't give anything about his real emotions.

Seeing as the two were alright, Iruka turned his attention towards the tall Genin, wondering what so important that he needed to talk with the Hokage without even giving him a hint. Sure, he knew the cloaked Jinchuriki was a man of many secrets that even the Hokage didn't know, but he was still a Chunin and had authority over him. So shouldn't he be informed first if the matter concerned the safety of the Village?

Nonetheless, he nodded in agreement and shouldered an unconscious Sasuke over his shoulder, being careful to stay as far away from the fox as possible since he had heard quite frightening stories about its ferociousness "Since you arrived early, you still have four days before the Preliminary Exams begins. Until then, you can rest, eat and even train inside the tower"

Naruto nodded calmly and pinned the hulking fox with his gaze "Pick her up and drop her in a bed inside the tower. Stay there and make sure no one enters the room"

"Where are you going?" the scarred Chunin asked in confusion. If it was him in Naruto's place, he would've taken this opportunity to rest as much as he could and prepare himself for the upcoming battles.

"I have something to attend to" he replied curtly before disappearing into the distance, leaving behind a wide eyed Iruka.

'When did he get so fast!?'

Just because he was thinking of giving the Chunin a second chance didn't mean that he would reveal his life story or tell him every single thing he planned to do. He was just going back into the forest to both train and prevent as many teams from passing as possible.

Rest would come later, he had four days before the Preliminary and in his humble opinion that was more than enough time to master an entire scroll of high level techniques let alone resting his body. He had not trained his body to rest but to thrive in the midst of conflicts and battle, he would be damned if he let it rest for four days without doing anything!

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 **Four Days Later, Central Tower Battle Arena**

Akuma's overwhelmingly loud growl awoke the tall Jinchuriki from his nap as he sat upright before reaching for his mask and looked around the room. He had returned from the forest just a few hours ago, particularly five hours ago, and after having a brief chat with the Hokage about a certain silver haired spy and Orochimaru, had decided to rest for a few hours to replenish his Chakra reserves which he had emptied quite a bit due to his almost three and a half days long continuous search for Genins.

There was no end to the happiness he was feeling at the moment. He had survived three and a half days long session of continuous battles and search for more battles by only drinking water! He could feel his muscles, his cells practically overflowing with power and vigor! No wonder Orochimaru had that bloodthirsty grin on his face when he had battled with him. There was a certain thrill, a certain sensation that seemed only unique to the heat of a battle!

Despite knowing his limits, despite being aware of his power level, he had hoped and prayed to once again encounter Orochimaru in the forest, to once again feel the thrill of adrenaline rushing through his bloodstream, to once again feel the sting of his opponents' blows and to once again discard all his reservations to the wind. But sadly, he had only fought with weak-willed, easily dealt with and easily killed Genins who seemed to have no idea what it truly meant to be a Shinobi.

He had become so desperate during his battle-induced ecstasy that he had prayed to even encounter that lackey, Kabuto if no one else, but even that prayer had gone unnoticed and unanswered. In the end, when all was said and done, he had been surprised by his own thirst for battle. But instead of feeling guilty, he had embraced those feelings.

Reaching for the hood of his cloak, Naruto looked towards the wall clock and noticed that he had at least an hour before the start of the Preliminary Exam. Mind made up, Naruto walked towards the adjoined bathroom to take a shower and wash away the smell of blood and sweat.

About 50 minutes later, Naruto and Akuma arrived at the battle arena just in time to hear Hayate, the Proctor of the third Exam announce Sasuke and Kiba's match and order the rest of the Genins to move to the upper level of the arena. Giving the Hokage and Guy a respectable nod, Naruto and Akuma flash stepped to the upper level next to the red-eyed Jonin.

While Guy took the nod as a sign of greeting from his favorite and youthful student, the old man took the meaning of the nod as something entirely different. Giving a discreet nod, a few hidden ANBU were sent out after the silver haired man who had dropped out of the exam a minute ago.

His old heart could not contain the pride and joy he felt when Naruto brought him the info about Orochimaru and the spy known as Kabuto Yakushi. Despite being still unforgiven, he had tried his best to win the boy's trust once again as much as he could. He had provided the boy with a private room along with an adjoined bathroom since he knew Naruto preferred his privacy above all else.

By capturing Kabuto, he would finally be able to gain some info regarding the whereabouts of his estranged student and finally deal with him. He had a feeling he would be meeting his wayward student soon and Naruto had apparently confirmed his feelings.

If he was to take his student's character and personality into consideration, then he won't make a move until the finals since he seemed to have a strange obsession with interrupting everything in its final stages, thus he had one month to once again retrain his old and rusty body to finally deal with his student once and for all.

'Don't I get a nod of greeting? That's disrespectful, Naruto' Kakashi thought with a sweatdrop.

Kurenai smiled softly and gave a teasing nod as Naruto and Akuma appeared right beside her. She was tempted to give him a hug but refrained from doing so since there were many people watching their interaction. Her smile widened when the hulking fox ran straight towards her with a loud growl and nudged her foot with his head, causing her to pet his furry head "Missed me that much, huh? Good boy!"

Hinata jumped slightly due to the sudden appearance of the tall Jinchuriki and the scary looking fox, but relaxed when her Sensei petted him without the fox doing anything violent.

The other Genins and Jonins looked on with shock as the hulking fox turned from a menacing beast to a purring mess under the Genjutsu Mistress's hands. The Jonins, especially, were shocked to see the normally stoic and serious Kurenai smile a teasing smile towards the tall Genin, no doubt to mock him for taming the scary beast.

Shino simply gave the tall cloaked man a nod and turned towards the fighting arena without saying anything.

"FOXY, when I get up there, I am going to kick your ass so hard your grandchildren will say ouch! You think you are too good to even say hi to me, huh?" Apparently, the ever loud and bloodthirsty Anko didn't take kindly to being ignored. Unfortunately and fortunately, depending on the perspective, Naruto ignored her simply to get his revenge for being teased back at the Forest of Death.

"Honestly, you are spoiling him with all those petting" Naruto stated blankly and crossed his sleeve-covered hands over his chest, ignoring Anko's indignant shout as he watched Akuma become a purring mess under Kurenai's skillful hands "Nobody is going to take him seriously if they see him like this"

"At least he seems to enjoy my presence, unlike you" she retorted with a huff and rubbed the fox's head, much to his pleasure "You have the nerve to question me spoiling him when all you do is tire this poor thing all day long with your insane training methods"

She had seen the way he seemed to both train his body as well as the fox and had to admit it was insane. Sealing off your Chakra and then training? Seriously!? She had joined them a few times on their training due to Naruto's insistence but only those which she could do, not the clearly insane ones. She had thought that Guy's training methods were inhuman, however she had changed her mind after seeing what Naruto and Akuma were doing.

However, the results of those training session had been astonishingly brilliant! She had only sealed off her Chakra for about two hours during one of the session, but after releasing the seal, she had been surprised to witness incredible strength in her muscles and increase in her Chakra reserves.

After that, she had continued a few training sessions with them when she had the time but had been mostly busy with training her Genins and taking them on missions. Even though she was a Jonin, Naruto's Taijutsu far outclassed hers. She had come to that realization after a spar with the tall Jinchuriki, a one-sided one at that.

To think that a mere Genin would defeat her, an elite Jonin, without so much as a scratch on his body. While it had been a shameful moment for her, Naruto's offer of training had lifted her spirits.

The sheer difference she had seen and witnessed with her eyes had been so vast that she had doubted her position as a Jonin before Naruto offered to become her Taijutsu teacher of sorts. Being a Genjutsu specialist, it was understandable that she would be a little bit weak in hand to hand, but after training with Naruto, she had realized that she was A LOT weaker than she had expected.

"It's not a question of enjoying your presence, but his level of intimidation" the tall Genin replied with a soft tone.

"Still not buying it" she retorted stubbornly and looked away, still petting Akuma's head.

Naruto sighed softly and looked towards the arena where Kiba and Sasuke's battle was going on. If he was to judge them by their level of skill, he knew Sasuke would win. One, Kiba was arrogant and two, he had trouble with analyzing a situation before it was too late.

"He really needs to work on that arrogance of his before it gets him killed" Naruto stated bluntly and gave Kurenai a meaningful look.

Kurenai had the decency to look sheepish "I tried my best, but as you can see it's a working process"

"Well, he is going to lose"

As Naruto had predicted, after a few minutes of futile and hopeless use of tactics, Sasuke used a technique he had copied from Lee, much to the Jinchuriki's displeasure, and severely hurt Kiba.

As Kiba was carried in a stretcher, the tall Jinchuriki turned towards the red-eyed Jonin, whose eyes were twitching randomly "Don't even think about saying 'I told you so', Naruto"

Said Genin smirked behind his mask and turned towards the arena as Kakashi vanished with Sasuke, no doubt to do something about his mark. The screen flashed random names before it settled on Shino and a Sound-nin called Zaku.

"How about Shino?" the annoyed Jonin asked with a smug smirk, knowing Naruto held the quiet Aburame in high regard.

As expected, Naruto turned towards her but she couldn't even see the look on his face due to his thrice damned mask as Shino descended down the stairs to the arena. That mask annoyed her so much that she was tempted to rip it off whenever she would see it! "Shino is competent enough to win the match"

Hinata looked between her Sensei and the tall cloaked Genin with a confused look on her face. If she didn't know any better, she would say they were both flirting and fighting at the same time. That was odd!

"Competent enough? Are you trying to question my teachings" she asked with her eyes narrowed mockingly before she turned and lowered to Akuma's eye level "Did you hear that meanie? He thinks I can't teach properly"

Naruto gave his companion a deadpan look when he turned towards him and growled "Seriously?"

The red-eyed Jonin placed her hand over her mouth and giggle softly as she saw the silent argument between the two. It was just so amusing to see the normally stoic and detached Naruto speak in something other than monotone.

"Good boy, at least I can count on you to back me up, unlike a certain tall and spooky Genin" she cooed and petted the fox's head with renewed vigor while said fox purred in bliss.

Hinata could feel her eyes widened in shock when she heard her Sensei's response. Did she just coo!? Did she just jab at someone!?

"Was that a jab at me by any chance?" Naruto asked with a blank tone

"Who knows?" she retorted with a smug grin while Akuma let out a sound akin to a snort, causing the tall Jinchuriki to deadpan at their strange alliance. Was it him and or did they seem more friendly and more close whenever he was around. This wasn't just a onetime deal either. They had been allying against him in every single argument, every single decision.

If they wanted to go to eat something after training, he would suggest one thing and Kurenai would purposely suggest something else to annoy him and to make it worse, Akuma would agree with her every time and then they would purposely act all chummy and emotional to get on his nerves. Sometimes, he couldn't help but wonder if Akuma was his companion or Kurenai's.

"Consider your training as doubled when we get back, both of you" Naruto announced firmly and looked towards the arena where Zaku and Shino were fighting.

Kurenai leaned towards him and whispered in his cloaked covered ear "In case you have forgotten, I am a Jonin and thus have responsibilities at times like these so your threat is useless"

Not wanting to be outdone by anyone, Naruto turned and leaned dangerously close to her ear, purposely releasing hot air from his mouth as Kurenai shivered slightly, cheeks tinged red with embarrassment "Indeed, but does that excuse you from **my** sessions after the Chunin Exams?"

Seeing as she was defeated, the red-eyed Jonin huffed and crossed her hands over her chest before looking away, to show that she was not happy about that particular situation and … to hide her red cheeks. Damn that blond! He knew exactly which buttons to push and when to push them! She couldn't exactly continue their game of concealed flirting in front of all these people, now could she? What the hell was his problem using double meaning words so close to her ears like that?

The damn blond knew that and took advantage of it! She could practically feel smugness oozing off of his cloaked covered body in waves

Fortunately, all the Genins and Jonins were focused on the fight between Shino and Zaku which was surprisingly coming to an end so they couldn't see her embarrassed expression. Her eyebrows twitched randomly when she saw a grinning Anko wigging her eyebrows at her suggestively, making it painfully obvious she knew and saw what was happening. She was never going to live this down if her grinning face was any indication.

Zaku, seeing as he was from the Sound Village was using sound waves to blast his enemies away and Shino, being the ever logical and analytical Genin that he was, used the only weakness in his technique.

By blocking the holes in the Sound-nin's hands, he blocked the way for the output of the sound waves, thus with no way out, the sound waves blasted right through the Genin's forearm, knocking said Chunin hopeful into blissful unconsciousness.

 **Kankuro Vs Tsurugu Misumi**

The match between these two ended as soon as it began. The second teammate of the spy known as Kabuto used his Chakra to soften the bones in his body, thus enabling him to wrap himself around the Sound Genin like a serpent would around its prey. A unique Jutsu but one easily countered from what Naruto could see.

Kankuro, it seemed, picked up on that weakness and turned the tables on the fake Leaf-nin by using his puppet. Seeing as he was also knee-deep in the questionable profession known as spying along with his other teammate and Kabuto, Naruto had already gotten permission to deal with him.

As soon as he was rendered unmoving by the Sound Genin and said Genin declared the winner, Naruto raised a single covered finger and pointed at the weak man before firing a fire bullet which seemed to increase in size and intensity the more it reached the Genin before engulfing him entirely, leaving behind nothing but ashes.

Yoroi Akado, the third teammate of the spy team shouted in outrage and demanded that Naruto be disqualified and questioned for killing an unconscious Genin even after he had lost the match. The Hokage ignored the demand and nodded to each of his Jonins, indicating that he would explain later and signaled to continue the matches.

Hayate, while confused and a little bit annoyed, signaled for the next match as the screen flashed randomly before settling on two names. Kurenai blinked in confusion and a little bit surprise when she heard her tall and detached friend groan softly. She really needed to see what was so great that it would even make the cold and impassive Naruto groan like that so she could use it whenever she wanted a reaction out of the blond.

She sighed in sympathy when she saw the two names flashing on the large screen, now oddly feeling pity for the cloaked Jinchuriki. She understood completely what he was going through and sympathized with him.

 **Ino Yamanaka Vs Sakura Haruno.**

Instead of watching the match, Naruto took out a small scroll from his cloak and sat down crossed legged to read it. The Hokage sweatdropped when the ever stoical and serious Kurenai shrugged nonchalantly and sat down next to the cold Jinchuriki, leaning towards him to read what he was reading as the hulking fox followed their example and laid down to take a nap.

During the end of the match when the battle was announced tied, Sakura looked towards her only teammate and saw him, much to her disappointment and anger, reading a scroll along with the red-eyed Jonin. She turned towards her teacher, hoping that at least he had been paying attention, only to deadpan when she saw him reading his novel, occasionally letting out a perverted giggle.

Was she really that pathetic that her teammate didn't even deem her worthy of being cheered on?

Was she really that weak that her own teacher saw more interest in reading a perverted novel than watching her match?

With an air of clear depression surrounding her body, she walked up the stairs and stood next to her Sensei without saying anything, not that the man was listening anyway. She glanced at Naruto and saw him still reading his scroll as if not even caring what she had gone through down in the arena.

Kakashi sighed behind his mask and looked towards Naruto's siting form with narrowed eyes. It pained him to see his one and only female student so depressed just because she lost a simple match. He would've comforted her had it not been for Naruto's warning not to do so. It seems Naruto wanted her to feel depressed and disappointed so that she would be motivated to train rather than chase Sasuke all day.

Well, he just hoped it would turn out the way Naruto wanted or Sakura would lose her little self-confidence and would be dropped out of the team.

 **Naruto Uzumaki Vs Yoroi Akado**

"Hmm, I suppose I should consider myself fortunate to be facing that spy, it would save me the trouble of hunting him down later" Naruto stated impassively and calmly stood up, ignoring Yoroi's shout of joy. It seems the man was happy to be facing him in battle, obviously thinking of avenging his teammate, he would convert that shout of joy into one of agony and despair soon enough.

Kurenai followed his example and stood up with a wide teasing smile "Want me to give you a good luck kiss?"

"That won't be necessary" he deadpanned, causing Kurenai to giggle softly.

"Why not? I hear it actually works. You should really try some"

Ignoring her teasing rib pokes, Naruto raised a hand when Akuma stood up to walk with him to the arena "I will handle him myself"

"Are you sure you don't want a kiss?" she asked with a suggestive smile.

"Oi you love birds, you can shower each other with affection later. It's time for your match" Anko shouted with a wide grin on her face, causing Kurenai's eyes to twitch and cheeks to heat up while Kakashi giggled perversely

"I think I will be able to survive without your generous offer, thank you for your concern" he replied sarcastically and vanished from the upper level, appearing right in front of the visibly angry and fuming Yoroi.

Every ounce of softness and comfort vanished from his being when he appeared in front of the arena. Kurenai could've sworn the temperature of the large hall like arena dropped down a couple of degrees when Naruto stepped his feet upon the floor and stood as straight as a marble statue.

The wizened Hokage couldn't help the smile full of grandfatherly affection appear on his old visage as he gazed at the young boy with the body of a raging beast stand there like a statue, devoid of any feelings or emotions, devoid of the things that made him human and devoid of any comfort. This was his greatest trait, his greatest weapon and his greatest triumph card. Keeping calm and composed in all kinds of situations, never losing sight of his objective nor showing any feelings.

Hiruzen Sarutobi lowered the hat on his face to hide the fond smile on his face as he gazed at the boy standing in the arena as tall and as resilient as a mountain.

'You've come a long way, my boy, show us what you can do'

Hayate raised his hand and brought it down in a cutting motion "Let the fourth match begin!"

"I am going to make you pay for what you did to Tsurugu, you bastard!" Yoroi sneered and ran forward with his hand encased in visible blue Chakra. The tall Jinchuriki dodged the punches with incredible ease while gazing at the man from behind his blank mask. He raised an eyebrow when he blocked one punch and felt a tiny drop in his reserves.

'I see' he thought with an arched eyebrow.

Yoroi jumped back and chuckled smugly, seeing the confused tilt of his opponent's head "I see, so you felt it. That's my ability, I can absorb the Chakr…"

Naruto raised his cloak-covered hand in a stopping gesture "Don't bother, I know what your technique does. Though I do have a question, why do you people deem it necessary to explain the nature of your abilities so casually to your opponents? Is it perhaps arrogance or just plain and simple stupidity?"

"Why you…"

"That response just now showed the limit of your intellect"

"Enough talking!" the fake Leaf-nin growled and threw a few kunai at Naruto who deflected them with his hand, only to be caught off guard as Yoroi appeared behind and captured his hands in a strong hold "Gotcha!"

Despite having delivered the plan perfectly, the fake Leaf-nin couldn't help but wonder that it had seemed a little bit too easy for his liking. From the first brief hand to hand battle, he had realized that simply capturing the cloaked Genin would be impossible due to his speed and senses, so how it was that he was captured so easily?

'This doesn't make any sense!'

It finally made sense when he felt enormous amount of Chakra being forcefully fed into his body through his hands, Chakra so dense and potent that he felt as though he was about to explode. Knowing that if he absorbed any more, it would prove catastrophic, Yoroi released his hold on the tall Genin and attempted to flip back to put some distance between them. The key word being, attempted.

Before he could jump away, Naruto twisted around in incredible speed and caught his head in a vice grip "Stealing my Chakra for so long and then escaping away without even saying thank you, that's quite rude!"

Yoroi tried to absorb the Chakra in Naruto's hand to lessen its strength so that he could escape, even though he knew it would be risky since he had absorbed more than enough already, however, the moment his hands came into contact with the tall Genin's own, he found that he could no longer get them to move. It was as if they were caught by something.

"W-what are you d-doing!?"

"You seemed to be a fan of absorbing Chakra from others, luckily for you, I am a fan of helping others. Thus I suppose we can help each other, you will be able to sate your thirst for absorbing as much Chakra as you like and I will be able to fulfil my objective by helping you" Naruto stated impassively as he griped the man's head harder and poured an enormous amount of Chakra directly into his head "Here"

The Hokage looked with a smile on his face while the Jonins and Genins looked with mixed expressions on their faces as the fake Lead-nin kept getting larger and larger like a balloon from the influx of Naruto's dense Chakra. Some of surprise, some of interest and some of horror.

Finally, due to the Chakra directly poured into his skull, Yoroi's body could not handle any more and exploded in a messing shower of blood and body parts. Some of the Genins, particularly Sakura, Hinata and Ino, couldn't keep the food in their stomachs and puked while the rest of the more experienced and composed Genins simply looked away with clear horror etched onto their visages.

The Jonins, on the other hand, looked on with shock. They couldn't believe that a mere Genin had so much Chakra that a fully grown up Genin's body could not handle and yet still stand there without appearing the slightest bit winded.

Kurenai on the other hand looked down at Naruto's tall and unmoving form with shock and unconcealed pride clearly evident on her visage. She was not shocked that Naruto had killed his opponent, but shocked by the same fact as the other Jonins. She had known that Naruto had a lot of Chakra but to think that he wasted that much and yet still be able to even stand let alone walk up the stairs as if nothing had happened.

The reason for her pride on the other hand, was as clear as the shinning surface of a diamond. A mere Genin yet able to beat her, a full-fledged Jonin, in Taijutsu, a mere Genin yet able to think like a war veteran, a mere Genin yet able to even battle with Orochimaru and still come out alive.

Despite not wanting to show affection in public, she leaned forward when he came near her, swiftly tilted his mask and kissed him on his cheek before he even had time to think before placing back his mask. It happened so quick that no one had even the time to see the side of his face before it was all over.

Kurenai leaned back against the wall and looked around the room to see the different reactions of the present people's faces. Asuma's cigarette lay forgotten on the floor, having fallen from the bearded Jonin's wide open mouth as he stared at her in shock and betrayal. Kakashi was giggling like a madman. Guy was giving her thumbs up in his usual 'good guy' pose while the Hokage looked on with a fond smile on his face.

In her defense, she thought that he needed a reward for going out of his way to share his ideas with her and train her in Taijutsu. She had been meaning to do that but never had the opportunity, so when she got a chance, she took it. She saw no problem in that!

Anko, on the other hand, was rubbing her hands in glee, eyes wide like saucers and lips stretched into an impossibly wide grin as she wigged her eyebrows suggestively "Why you sneaky little minx!"

Naruto stood frozen on the spot as his mind rebooted several times to comprehend what had happened before he came to one essential conclusion "I really need to find a glue for my mask"

Everyone except the Hokage, Sound Jonin and Gaara face-faulted at the deadpan statement while Kurenai simply smiled teasingly and sat down to rub Akuma's head, ignoring the many looks she was receiving from the people present.

Kankuro stood up with an indignant look on his face "What the hell is wrong with that guy? I would rip my mask off if a gal wanted to kiss me and he wants to glue his mask?!"

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Cliffhanger! muahahahaha (Cough) sorry about that, went a little nuts over there.

Kindly review and let me know what you think!


	10. Chapter 10: Chunin Exam Part 3

**Chunin Exam Part 3**

 **Disclaimer= I don't own Naruto or Techniques from any other anime etc.**

 **Thanks guys and gals for the support, patience and wishes of good luck in regards to my dilemma as well as the reviews. I was able to concentrate on my studies and am proud to say that I not only passed my exams with the highest marks but also received a Scholarship offer from a foreign university!**

 **The actual credit of my success goes to you! Once again, thanks guys and gals for the support and enjoy this new chapter!**

 **Answer to a few questioning reviews,**

 **Sinedd662: Sorry but no other pairings.**

 **Xypher1: Glad to hear from you again, mate, really missed your reviews (*_*). It was quite disheartening to hear such tragic news but all I can say is these things are connected to life. Death is the one fate we all share, so I know you are hurt, but use this pain of yours to move on with your life as to not leave any regrets when your time comes. The financial problems, I can't say I understand what that feels like but I have a vague feeling that it's not pretty, so sorry to hear that and hope that your problems are over soon.**

 **I greatly enjoyed reading what you had written, mate, there is no need for you to apologize for a long review, I enjoy reading long reviews. I look forward to your long reviews more than anything, believe me! What I love most about your reviews is that you not only cover every single little detail in your words but you also discreetly overlook my small mistakes. I admit I am not perfect thus I make mistakes, but the fact that you know them and overlook them simply because you know they are inconsequential in the long run … is what endears your opinions to me.**

 **Almost 30% to 40% readers are hell-bent on minor details such as hair color, clothing etc (Though I admit even reading that Naruto is wearing a *I am here, come and kill me* orange jumpsuit makes me shiver!) which sometimes gets really disturbing. As long as the story stays on its course, follow the desired path, cover the important details and flow smoothly, small mistakes shouldn't even matter, right?**

 **Anyway, I hope I can count on you to support me till the end with your blunt but still encouraging reviews. Thanks mate and I sincerely hope your troubles and challenges soon leave the premises of your life!**

 **Reptil: The issue of the Rasengan and Sage Mode will be hopefully resolved in the next chapter. As for weaknesses, those will be gradually revealed. Such as mentioned in this chapter, read it and you will see.**

 **Alpha: I know you guys are wondering where he stands in the power level department, but trust me when I say, if I tell you now, it would ruin everything for you. You wouldn't then pay much attention to his fights and his interaction. So be patient and all will be revealed in due time!**

 **Namittheking: Yes, mate, I knew that but if I had taken Naruto's fight to that time, it would've lengthened the chapter way too much and I didn't have much time that day.**

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 **Namikaze Compound**

"Well then, are you ready?" Naruto asked in a calm and detached tone as he sat outside a glowing circle of seals with Akuma's hulking form standing in the middle of the circle. Around the circle were five of his Shadow Clones positioned in pentagonal shape, each holding the standard Ram hand-sign.

A square seal array was extended to an altar of sorts with Naruto's sword known as the Sword of Sartr stabbed in the ground, an ancient heirloom of the Uzumaki Clan, passed down from one Clan head to the next for generations.

The second part of the Chunin Exam had ended a few days ago and just as Kurenai had predicted, he hadn't seen or heard from her till this day since she was no doubt busy with strengthening the villages' borders along with some of the other Jonins.

After finishing his battle, he had asked the Hokage for an early leave to properly prepare himself for the next phase of the exam, which the old man had been all too eager to provide.

Though, he had advised him to seek out a person by the name of Jiraiya, his godfather apparently to get some training from him since he was the Toad Sannin. Though the offer was tempting _ who wouldn't want to receive personal training from a Sannin? _ he had far too much on his plate right now to give it any thought.

Right now? Absolutely no chance, Later? Maybe

It was harsh of him to say it but he was glad the Genjutsu Mistress was away at the moment considering her relation with Akuma. She would no doubt outright forbid him from doing what he was about to do at the moment.

The sword while considerably powerful in its own right, was just something he had no need for. If it had been a Wind based sword, it may have proven somewhat useful to his cause, but since it was a Fire based sword, he had no need for it since his affinity for Fire was all he needed.

Thus came the issue of actually utilizing the enormous power of the sword and to not let it rust away uselessly. The answer came in the form of Akuma, his ever loyal, hulking mass of compact muscles and fiercely overprotective foxy companion.

While he admitted the fox had proven far more useful during some of the Foundation missions he had taken than he had expected, he still thought that Akuma lacked the necessary power to help him in a tight situation.

The idea came to him during an assassination mission in the Land of Demons. The rogue-nin he was assigned to assassinate _ who was wanted for poisoning the water supply of small village in the Land of Woods _ proved to be a stronger opponent than he had anticipated.

Even though Danzo had provided that reason, Naruto knew there was something else going on between the two that the scarred elder was no willing to tell him.

Long story short, at the end of the battle, he had been forced to release one of the Storage Seals to avoid being killed, which proved to be a life changing experience for him. Akuma had tried several times to help but since he lacked any technique, he had proven somewhat useless.

Akuma, while fast and considerably strong, still lacked power to stand up to stronger opponents like Orochimaru. If he could somehow merge the infinite amount of fire energy stored in the demonic sword with Akuma's developing Chakra network, it would not only provide his companion with almost infinite amount of Fire Style chakra, but it may also change him.

The idea had seemed appealing so he had dwelled deeper into the Art of Sealing and eventually came up with almost the same seal as the Eight Trigram Sealing Jutsu, but a little different in its function. Even though he had been reluctant to try it, Akuma had wordlessly persuaded him to proceed anyway.

The idea turned out to be his gravest miscalculation ever!

The merging of the sword and Akuma had not only failed spectacularly but had almost killed his foxy companion due to its power. He had miscalculated the amount of energy the sword possessed and thus, unfortunately, Akuma paid the price for his mistakes.

Even though that attempt had failed splendidly and almost crippled Akuma for life, it had given him a gleam of hope. After that failure, he had studied the sealing formula engraved on his belly and had tried to decode it, which had also proven too difficult, if not outright impossible.

His father had proven that he was not called a 'once in a generation genius' for nothing.

In any case, after almost four unsuccessful tries in about six months which had wounded his fox companion far too much for his liking, he had come up with a way which at least promised to be safe if not successful.

By engraving a seal array similar to one of the abilities of the Legendary Rinnegan, the sword would convert into its natural state of pure unrestrained energy and the absorption sealing formula engraved on Akuma's abdomen would absorb the pure energy core into his Chakra Pool before distributing it into many storage seals drawn on his body.

While the idea seemed appealing and easy in theory, he still had his doubts. The problem was not the seal converting the sword into a pure energy core but the resilience of the Storage Seals engraved on Akuma's body.

Should the energy influx prove far too strong for Akuma's own Chakra Pool and the Storage Seals, it would not only destroy Akuma from the inside out but also blow him as well as the Compound to smithereens!

He was still hesitant about actually implementing the idea, surprisingly Akuma remained steady in his resolve to absorb the power of the demonic sword. Maybe he himself realized that he was not strong enough to stand beside him in a serious fight, which was both amusing and praise worthy.

Currently they were in the Namikaze Compound's heavily insulated room specially designed by Minato to perform his Sealing experiments in … in order to avoid causing chaos should the seal fail.

Coming back to the topic, Akuma released a sound akin to a grunt and tensed his muscles in preparation for the pain that was sure to come. He had experienced the pain of almost being shredded to pieces by the power of the sword, so he had a vague idea of the upcoming torrent of agony.

Naruto nodded with a soft smile on his exposed face and nodded to his clones who closed their eyes and channeled chakra into the Seal. The circular seal glowed ominously in the dark room, illuminating the corners of the chamber in its red hue as the sword glowed furiously.

The stabbed crimson sword was slowly lifted out of the ground by an unknown force and left hovering in the air as it glowed, bathing the whole room in its light. Slowly but surely, the shape of the sword became indefinite and circular, changing from a pointy structure to an enormous circular crimson sphere which glowed furiously.

Naruto gritted his teeth, sweat trailed down his pronounced brows as the heat of the sword kept on rising and rising until it could even penetrate his Fire immune skin and cause burns. His black cloak caught fire and was instantly reduced to ashes, fortunately his clothes did not suffer the same fate.

For the first time in these last six months, he finally realized the pain Akuma must have gone and was still going through to absorb the sword.

His respect and appreciation for his companion went up a notch as he felt the scorching feel of the flames threatening to even burn his body!

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Akuma's loud and agonizing roars as the seal on his abdomen absorbed the energy sphere. He just prayed his companion would survived this because this was the last and final time. He would not compromise the safety of his companion even if said companion was willing!

His eyes widened in surprise as Akuma went through a strange and frankly fascinating transformation. His already large and hulking form enlarged to a height far greater than before until it reached the roof of the room. His compact muscles rippled and expanded to impossible proportions.

His menacingly large maw extended even farther, his claws lengthened and his crimson fur along with his bushy tail resembled flames as it flowed ominously.

The most menacing feature about him were his eyes. The previously crimson slitted eyes were now something akin to flames burning in a furnace. There were no pupils inside the eyes but a circular shape of flames constantly flickering and waving around.

The shadow clones vanished, having exhausted all their chakra as Naruto kneeled on the ground. The process had taken a lot more chakra than he had imagined, though it wasn't much of a surprise since the sword contained almost infinite amount of energy.

Even in his weakened state of body and mind, his sense screamed at him to roll over. Seeing as his sense had never ever failed him, he took the warning to heart and jumped to the side of the room just as a massive claw struck the place he had been kneeling on, courtesy of a transformed Akuma.

His eyes widened in surprise as another sharp claw connected with the wall behind him and smashed it to pieces, sending debris and dust flying all over the corridor as he rolled over to the entrance of the now partially destroyed room, his mind thinking over the situation as he ran towards the training ground.

The newly transformed Akuma gave pursuit, knocking away several walls and the ceilings along the corridor as he sprinted after Naruto. The formerly cloaked Jinchuriki stopped in the training ground and lowered into his fighting style, knowing it would come to that part anyway.

How could he have missed taking such an important detail into account!? He should've known that the sudden influx of that much energy would leave Akuma's mind weakened and somewhat scrambled.

Unless and until the fox regained his thoughts, all of the villagers would be knocking at his door in a few minutes, since the restrictive seals were destroyed along with half of the room as well as the entire hallway.

For the second time in a single day, his eyebrows rose up his hairline when he saw that Akuma had grown even larger when he stepped foot in the training ground and growled menacingly.

He had not expected this outcome in the slightest! If he grew any bigger, the whole village would think the worst case scenario and cause unnecessary chaos and confusion.

 **Fire Style: Fireball Barrage!**

He hummed in shock when Akuma raised a massive paw and swatted away the large fireballs like they were nothing at all.

This was turning out to be quite the fascinating miscalculation! On one hand, he was wary of what Akuma rage-induced state would do should he prove unable of stopping of him but on the other hand, he couldn't help but anticipate the battle that was sure to come.

"If ordinary Fireballs do not have an effect on you, then let see how well you do against a stronger technique"

Before Naruto could raise his hand for another Wind enhanced Fire style technique, Akuma opened his menacingly large maw and _ much to Naruto's growing surprise _ produced a large reddish sphere of demonic energy before firing it at incredible speed.

Not having enough time to dodge or even use Flashstep, Naruto channeled a considerable amount of chakra into his arms and held them in front of his body in a risky gamble.

The sphere of demonic energy connected with his body in an astounding show of power, blasting away the ground and trees of the training ground to mere pieces of flaming debris, the grass turned to black ashes as winds picked up speed.

A few moments later, two flaming whips emerged out of the smoke and wrapped around Akuma's feet, causing the rampaging beast to roar in irritation and anger as the flaming whips sizzled its skin.

The smoke gradually cleared to reveal a badly bleeding Naruto kneeling on the ground and whips of fire emanating from his hands. His shirt was nowhere to be seen and half of his lower body garment resembled rags.

Large gashes and slashes were visible on his arms, chest and legs, bleeding profusely. Both of his hands, starting from his fingers up to his elbows, were burned and turned an angry red from being exposed to the demonic energy.

Naruto grimaced lightly as his bleeding wounds and burned skin sizzled and instantly closed up without a trace, something he was grateful to the gigantic beast of chakra for. Instant regeneration, a wonderfully handy gift from the nine tailed beast!

Looking around the clearing, he saw nothing but lifeless ashes and burning embers.

He could not believe his overprotective companion was capable of causing this much destruction! That sphere had almost killed him! If it hadn't been for his potent chakra somewhat negating the effects of the blast and his physically resilient body, he would've been blasted to pieces!

Not even Orochimaru had been able to cause him much physical damage because of his dense skin, yet that energy sphere had caused him to even bleed!

He hadn't seen his blood since starting his physical training because no one had been able to draw out his blood! Not even the Hokage and the man had used several devastating techniques to test that particular claim.

Of course he had been beaten severely during those so-called tests but the old man hadn't been able to draw blood from his tired, beaten, bruised and exhausted body!

All those aspects aside, his fascination was actually stemmed by the fact that his theories had proven correct about the Fire inside the sword being of supernatural origin, considering it burned him even though he was immune to fire!

To think that a simple merging of the sword had caused such a drastic increase in power level! It was fascinating!

The rage-induced Akuma struggled against the flaming whips and broke them with a harsh stump of his feet before focusing on a smiling Naruto.

Malice and power oozed off his towering form! His towering form looked more like something of a monster out of a nightmare. Fire constantly flickering and waving in his eyes gave him a dreadful aura! It was magnificent!

"Such strength … such power" he commented lightly and stood up with a soft chuckle, leisurely dusting his now bare torso and arms before stumping the ground with his right foot "Apologies in advance, but you leave me no choice!"

 **Fire Style: Blazing Fortress!**

An enormous stream of scorching flames rushed from his foot towards the transformed Akuma and caught him its heating embrace. The massive transformed fox tried to shake off the heat of the flames as it raised higher and higher into the sky, leaving no way for him to escape.

 **Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!**

"It's called the Blazing Fortress for a reason" Naruto announced in impassive tone as he watched his transformed companion roar in the heating embrace of the rapidly increasing Fire Jutsu.

It somewhat … pained him to hear his loyal companion roar in agony amidst a technique of his creation but some matters could not be helped.

He never thought he would use a technique this powerful against his own companion but there was no choice left for him. Admittedly, the Blazing Fortress was one of the three strongest Fire Style technique in his limited arsenal.

As the roars of the flames died down, so did the pained and angry growls of his transformed familiar.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Mindscape**

The sound of small droplets dripping down into a water body reverberated through the dark corridors of his mind as he walked towards the central chamber where the Nine Tails was held. Something about his mind being nothing but a dark corridor akin to a sewer disturbed him greatly.

He would have to do something about this, one way or the other.

Arriving at the large chamber, Naruto was treated to the sight of his reluctant and sarcastic prisoner gazing at him with his crimson eyes from behind the safety of the great seal. No matter how many times he saw him, no matter how much he tried to compose himself and no matter how much he tried to prepare himself, the giant beast of infinite power always seemed to capture him in a state of awe.

Starting from his enormous height, his crimson tails flickering hypnotically behind him, his red eyes filled to the brim with interest and wisdom, his menacingly sharp and gigantic claws and up to his imposing presence. Everything about him screamed power!

Yet the sad fact was, that despite his enormous power and might, he was captured by a mere human and sealed into the body of a newborn with just a few lines from a brush. Shocking yet ironic all the same!

While the giant beast had been less than forthcoming about his reasons for attacking and almost reducing the Leaf village to dust, he had a feeling the beast had been captured because he had underestimated the humans.

"To what do I owe the invitation?" Naruto asked curiously and stood in front of the seal.

After his less than pleasant battle with a transformed Akuma, he had taken the revoltingly injured fox to a room to heal him with his considerable knowledge of healing, which sadly wasn't much. He had only healed his external wounds and requested the Hokage to send him a Medic-nin, preferably someone from the Inuzuka Clan.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had proven once again that he was willing to redeem his past mistakes in any way necessary and had sent him Hana Inuzuka, Kiba's sister.

At first the woman had proven her expertise by healing Akuma faster than he could ever imagined and advised him to keep the fox in a room without doing anything excessive.

After being unexpectedly asked if he was 'bagging' Kurenai Yuuhi _ whatever that meant _ he had found that she was apparently in the circle of the Genjutsu Mistress's friends.

Anko Mitarashi had been the one who had told her, which shouldn't have surprised him considering the woman had as much control over her mouth as her snakes, which constituted as none. While he had tried to tell her the truth, she wouldn't have any of it and only gave him a knowing smirk before walking away.

While he had been thinking about the meaning of the smirk, the Nine Tails unexpectedly called him to the seal without giving any explanation. Thus his current presence in the seal.

The gigantic mass of chakra opened his eyes and pinned his tall cloaked host with his red eyes of fire " **Being subtle never was my strongest trait, so you will have to pardon me for not indulging in idle chit chat** "

Naruto raised an eyebrow behind his mask and crossed his feet under his tall form, hovering in a cross-legged position in front of the cage. His eyebrows rose a little higher up his hairline when he noticed the beast twitch at his action. That was completely unexpected!

"It does not matter" he replied blankly.

" **Well then, I will make it simple for your benefit** " Kyuubi announced in is deep rumbling voice " **You do know you have a seal implanted on the back of your neck, right**?"

"What!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise.

The nine tailed creature of chakra raised a massive eyebrow at the unexpected and surprising reaction. Sure, he had expected the boy to be surprised but he hadn't exactly been expecting him to react this way.

Seeing his reaction, Kyuubi sighed deeply and lowered his gigantic head to his paws " **So you don't know. That certainly explains your ignorance** "

Naruto uncrossed his feet and neared the cage with his eyes narrowed in concealed anger "Who?"

" **Danzo or maybe someone else** "

The Jinchuriki blinked in shock. So Danzo was behind this! But how? He had never even shown his face to the man, let alone the back of his head! "When?"

" **While I do not know the entire story since I was as uninformed as you till a few days ago, but I do have a theory** " The nine tailed creature sighed at his strangely agitated container's antics " **Remember your mission to the Land of Earth?** "

Naruto sighed and nodded, gradually getting control over his frantic nerves. Guess he had underestimated the scarred elder. He knew the man was sneaky and shrewd but he had been confident that the man would not outsmart him!

" **It's possible that** **he may have planted the seal on that day, though I am still unsure of its purpose"** Kyuubi stated firmly " **Frankly, the sudden revelation of the complicated seal is the least of your problems** "

Naruto's eyes furrowed in anger. There was something else as well?! "What else?"

" **Judging from the state of your body at the moment, he did quite a few modifications** "

Modifications! Danzo had the nerve to apply modifications to his body!

Thinking back to the mission he had taken to the Land of Earth, it had been the toughest of all his assignment, so tough in fact that he had been nearly killed and forced to retreat despite releasing 5 Storage seals at the middle of the fight and 2 after the fight AS WELL AS using Kyuubi's chakra!

It had happened on the third month of his new job as a Foundation assassin. Danzo had given him an assignment pertaining the elimination of a rogue Rock Ninja who had proven too troublesome for the Land of Fire.

Despite his instincts screaming at him that it was nothing but an elaborate trap, he had accepted the mission and gone to the Land of Earth under a disguise. After a week of relentless searching, he had found the culprit in a forest on the border between Earth and Lightening.

The man had turned out to be known as Roshi of the Lava Style, an old man who had fought in the last two wars and had been an Earth exile.

He had attacked without giving the man time to think, however seeing the way he dodged and sidestepped his precise attacks had him thinking that the man was more than what he tried to appear.

Needless to say, he and Akuma had found themselves in a serious disadvantage. The man had fought in world wars and thus had more experience and wisdom on how to use his skills.

At first the man had given him a false sense of victory by holding almost 80% of his power, however after that the man had started to take the fight seriously when he had seen that Naruto was not one to be underestimated.

Naruto had felt true shock and surprise when he had seen the man's true battle prowess and skills. The old man had Speed, agility, awareness, Ninjutsu and Taijutsu in spades! Even his superior speed by utilizing his Flash Step had no effect on the man's battle-hardened awareness and instincts.

The only thing which had kept him alive during the battle had been his resilient body and speed.

However, that advantage had soon lost its purpose when the man had actually revealed that he was a Jinchuriki, not just any Jinchuriki but the container of the Four Tails. By utilizing his Tailed Beast's chakra, the redheaded man had crumbled his defenses like an earthen vase.

The man had used Lava style techniques, meaning combining Earth and Fire Styles to create an entirely new and devastating array of Jutsu which had even overpowered his control over Fire style.

The redhead old man had been far superior to him in every way before even using his tenant's chakra, however after he had seen that despite delivering devastating wounds and damages to Naruto's superior body stature, the cloaked man wasn't going to fall, he had resorted to using the demonic energy.

That had been only the tip of the iceberg!

During the middle of their battle, when Naruto and Akuma had almost been on their last wits, a new combatant, by the name of Han of the Steam, had appeared. Any shard of advantage Naruto had at that time had been crumbled when his Fire Style techniques had been dosed by the armored man's superior Water Style Jutsu.

In the end, Naruto had realized that if even he were to use almost all of the seven Storage Seals' chakra, he wouldn't be able to kill the two, he had released the 6th and 7th seal in a destructive storm of dense and potent chakra to mask his escape, leaving a tired and bruised Akuma to carry his wounded, depleted and bleeding body back to the village.

That had been a life changing experience! No one had ever forced him to use all the seals engraved on his body yet still survive the confrontation!

He had learned three things from that ordeal.

One, never again underestimate Danzo! He may be old and gave the impression of a man whose youth has left him crippled, but his tactics, deceit and mind games were not to be overlooked or ignored!

Second, learn to control the Tailed Beast's chakra more efficiently. During the battle, Kyuubi had been reluctant to give him more chakra since the beast knew of his lack of control. Previously, he had avoided the topic with the beast because he had felt that it was a weakness to depend on others for your protection.

But now, after seeing the bond between Han, Roshi and their respective Tailed Beasts, he had come to realize that they were assets. Kyuubi was sealed inside his stomach and was not going anywhere, so why not learn to control its power and use it should the need arise?

By forming perfect synchronization with his tenant, it would benefit both of them.

Third and the most obvious of all the lessons he had learned was … he was weak! Being beaten and forced to retreat!? Unacceptable! He was not so arrogant as to believe himself a superior being with power unsurpassable but he liked to believe that he was relatively powerful.

But then again, he was but a Genin who was about to take his Chunin Exam, he had much room to improve.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Forest of Death, Midnight**

Deep within the dangerous and threatening confines of the Forest of Death, a panting Naruto tiredly leaned against the base of a tree and sighed in content. Fighting an endless number of Kyuubi-fied clones was neither a joke nor a walk in the park.

His exhausted and lifeless body was a testament to that fact.

Finding out that a seal of unknown function had been placed on him for unknown reasons by an equally unknown individual without his knowledge and that his body had been experimented on had riled him up quite a bit.

The sudden and unexpected twinges of severe pain, sudden loss of control, devastating backlashes of techniques and muscles spasms certainly made sense now.

Now that his mind was clear and devoid of any anger, he realized with a grimace that indeed the twinges of pain, while insignificant at that time, had started after he had returned from his deadly mission.

Just what had Danzo done to his body that it felt good and horrible at the same time!? Just what would Danzo gain from modifying his body? It made no sense!

If Danzo somehow had the delusional and arrogant thought that he would able to use him as a weapon, then he was dead wrong! Nobody had used him, nobody was using him and no would use him! No one!

If he were to take Kyuubi's inputs to heart, then it was safe to assume that the modifications would prove beneficial to his cause. Danzo would only be training and modifying his own assassin!

All thoughts aside, he realized that despite his thoughts of being in control, the man had subtly manipulated him into doing a lot of things.

By sending him to try and assassinate an experienced and skilled war veteran, Danzo ensured that he would return severely injured and would require days or maybe even weeks to be back to perfect health, thus allowing him sufficient time to conduct his experiments!

Since he had been unconscious at the moment, Akuma had taken him to the medical bay of the Foundation's Headquarters since even the fox knew that the Hokage did not have any knowledge of Naruto joining the ranks of the Foundation and thus would get suspicious to hear a report about a badly injured Naruto brought to the general hospital.

What he did not understand was why Akuma had not stopped him from conducting his experiments? His companion was loyal to a fault, he would rather die than let harm come to him! Just where was had been his foxy companion when Danzo had conducted the experiments?

Simply by this revelation alone, he knew he needed to be more careful around the shrewd and cold war hawk.

Sighing tiredly, Naruto dusted his long cloak and sped towards the fence surrounding the forest. It was past midnight and he needed to rest his tired body to receive some semblance of strength for tomorrow's activity list.

He hadn't received any sleep for the last three days because of constantly keeping a watch over his bedridden foxy companion, training and trying to decode the seal placed on his neck.

He had tried several times to decode it by having a shadow clone observe the array, but unfortunately and much to his continued anger, it was beyond his current capacity of knowledge.

Reaching the fence, Naruto leaped into the air and dashed towards his compound through the desolate streets.

The seal was positioned in a place which was his and everyone's greatest point of vulnerability, even those with Dojutsu. The back of the neck, right at the middle of the collarbones and innocently drawn over the vertebra was the damned seal that he had no idea what it did!

He hated it when he had no knowledge of something! It went against his nature! After all, Knowledge is power.

"Hmm?"

The speeding Jinchuriki stopped his sprint towards the general location of his compound when he saw a peculiar sight and heard sounds akin to a battle amidst the desolate streets. Sound did travel much faster and much louder during nights.

Something was wrong.

Swishes of several sharp objects cutting through the air followed by the telltale signs of metal hitting the floor confirmed his suspicion.

Something was definitely wrong.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **With Hayate, A Few Minutes Earlier**

The sickly proctor of the Chunin exams cursed under his breath as he sped over the rooftops towards the Hokage Tower, ducking under a barrage of thrown kunai and shurikens. This was big, very big!

He couldn't believe the seemingly friendly and sincere ally of the Leaf would dare betray them! How could the Sand want to invade them when they had done nothing to displease them or make them suspicious of the Leaf!

He had been merely observing the Preliminary rounds of the Chunin Exams when he had witnessed the bloody battle of the one named Gaara and had decided to follow him to observe his behavior. After all, it wouldn't be wise to let an emotionally and mentally unstable killer run unsupervised through the streets, even if said killer was a guest.

He had witnessed Gaara ruthlessly kill a Sound Genin in a cocoon of sand and carelessly drop his deformed and squashed body from the roof of the house with a maniacal grin on his strangely transformed face.

He would have to talk with the Hokage about that … if he got out of this alive.

What he hadn't expected was for the Sand Jonin, Baki, to meet up with a masked Sound Jonin and exchange battle plans and tactics… battle plans and tactics that involved the destruction of the Leaf!

The borders were supposed to be closed and keenly monitored to avoid any potential attacks during the Chunin Exams, so then how did a Sound Jonin enter the Land of Fire, let alone run freely through the streets of the Leaf village without being spotted?

As if that wasn't suspicious enough, Baki had seemed unsurprised by his appearance, meaning he had known about the man and had been waiting for him. He would have tried to know more about the whole scheme, but unfortunately, his cover had been blown and now both of the Jonins were hot on his tail.

Taking one Jonin, while hard and energy consuming, would've been no problem since he was a Jonin himself, but unfortunately for him, there were two of them and quite skilled from the looks of their movements.

"Shit!" Hayate cursed again as a sharp kunai embedded itself deep into his shoulder and rendered his right arm useless. The situation was rapidly taking a course for the worst! If he didn't finish this in a few minutes, he might either die from loss of blood or fighting the two Jonins!

"Argh!" a pained grunt escaped his lips as another shuriken found its home upon his ankle and caused him to drop to the ground in pain. Pushing the searing pain to the back of his mind, the ailing proctor took out his sword and deflected another barrage of shurikens with his left hand.

Just because his right hand was useless to him now didn't mean that he was someone you wanted to underestimate. He was a Jonin and known as the best sword fighter in the Leaf for a reason!

Looking up, Hayate's eyes widened in shock as the two Jonins descended upon his injured form like vengeful Shinigami with their kunai drawn and ready to impale him. This was bad and would get worst if the Sand Jonin's Wind chakra enhanced kunai embedded itself in his body!

Normal shurikens and kunai would do little damage to his vital areas besides his head, since the standard issued vest were made from thin fibred mesh armor sewn into the fabric to provide sufficient protection, but a Wind chakra enhanced kunai would cleanly cut through flesh like a hot knife through butter!

Seeing as there was no other way than to block the Sand Jonin's attack and take the other Jonin's assault head on, Hayate readied himself and tightly griped his sword to hopefully block the attack and survive.

Before the two Jonins could descend on him and possibly kill him, a double flying kick to their faces sent the two aforementioned ninjas flying to a wall. The sickly proctor eyebrows rose up in surprise and relief when he saw the familiar cloak of the famous but detached Jinchuriki flap in the wind.

"Naruto"

The aforementioned Jinchuriki extended his hand to the downed Jonin and helped him up without saying anything. The sickly man knew why that was … well beside the fact that the blond always was quite.

The Jinchuriki was focused on the now fully ready and aware Jonins standing in front of them with angry expressions. It was obvious that their so called pride had taken a hit by being kicked unexpectedly.

Baki and the Sound Jonin gritted their teeth in anger as they gazed at the statue-like figure standing protectively over the downed spy. His appearance complicated things more than they already were. Now they had to kill two loose ends instead of one!

"Can you fight?" Naruto asked bluntly and looked over his shoulder.

He was under no misconceptions to think himself capable of taking on two Jonins and hope to survive. Taking one Jonin at his current state of power may prove extremely difficult but battling two Jonins would be outright suicidal.

Hayate nodded softly and tightly gripped his sword "I think so"

"Then you should take on the Sound Jonin"

His eyes widened in surprise "You mean you want to fight the Sand Jonin?"

Naruto gave him a pointed look "That is obvious"

Without waiting for his reply or his warning, Naruto dashed forward with a perfect use of Flash Step and punched a surprised Baki in his stomach with enough force to send him flying through a wall.

Taking the advantage Naruto provided him with by taking on the stronger opponent, Hayate vanished and clashed with a strangely demoralized Jonin. Guess, he was not used to taking on an opponent one on one.

Well, unfortunately for the Sound fool, every Leaf Shinobi was trained both individually and collectively to overcome any odds.

Off to the side, Naruto blocked a kunai slash from the growling Jonin and jumped back before raising a single glove-covered finger.

 **Fire Style: Fire Bullet Barrage!**

But the Jonin wasn't a Jonin for nothing. He dodged the fire bullets with considerable ease, waving and dancing around the shower of fiery projectiles. However, there was just something wrong about this whole situation that he couldn't put his finger on.

Baki dodged the fire bullets and raced forward with his kunai drawn, channeling his wind chakra into the energy conducting metal. Naruto took out his own kunai and blocked the assault with ease, channeling his own wind chakra to counter the piercing effect of the other pointy weapon.

'He is more focused on engaging me head on rather than firing a technique, why?' Naruto mused lightly as he blocked another frantic slash from the Jonin. Without proceeding with the contest of physical strength, Naruto jumped backwards and stood a few feet away from the Sand Jonin.

Much to his continued surprise and suspicion, the Sand ninja didn't fire a technique and dashed forward, intent on fighting head on. This fight was turning out to be much too easy for a battle between a Jonin level ninja… unless…

'I see'

Naruto Flash stepped out of the way of the upcoming assault and appeared a few feet away "You are not fighting at your full capacity"

Baki grunted in annoyance. This was turning out to be quite the irritating situation. If they let these two alive, then their invasion plan was as good as foiled! The betterment of their Villages' future depended on the success of the Invasion!

It was true that he was holding back, after all, if he were to use high level techniques, it would attract a lot of unwanted attention but the fact that a mere Genin who had just started his Chunin Exams was able to figure that out was worrisome.

Of course he knew who this tall and cloaked boy was, he had seen him fight and kill two opponents in the Preliminary Exams.

"You are fighting to desperately to kill me, yet at the same time, you are holding back a considerable amount of power" the cloaked Jinchuriki stated bluntly and sidestepped a barrage of shurikens "Are you worried about being discovered by the patrolling ANBU?"

The Sand Jonin gritted his teeth in anger. This brat was getting on his nerves, talking as if he knew everything! When did Genins get to be so disrespectful and powerful at the same time!

Discreetly skimming his gaze over the parameters, he saw with a depressing sense of foreboding that the Sound fool wasn't doing much better against the skilled sword fighter. In fact, looking closely, the Jonin appeared to be losing quite badly!

Why did Orochimaru send this weakling to deliver the message?!

That was not all! Even if the entire Leaf ANBU Force had been comprised of deaf and blind individuals, they would've sensed something amiss and that is exactly what was happening at the moment! They had taken particular care in choosing the location for the plans exchange but the ever perceptive ANBU had somehow heard the commotion and were doubt on their way here!

Knowing that taking any more time would only worsen the situation, Baki turned towards his strangely quiet and motionless opponent, discreetly reaching for a dozen shurikens under his vest.

"So the ANBU's got the signal? Good" Naruto commented firmly and turned towards the Sound Jonin fighting Hayate, still keeping Baki in his peripheral vision.

Baki's eyes widened in surprise. The signal? What signal?! He hadn't seen the cloaked Genin fire any visible signal to alert the ANBU… unless.

"Those bullets were not meant for me, were they?" Baki asked through gritted teeth.

"Perceptive" Naruto retorted plainly, though the Sand Jonin could feel the air of smugness around him "Killing you would take unnecessary time and energy which I do not have at the moment, however killing your partner …."

Hayate's eyes widened in shock when his opponent went stiff like a rod and screamed in pain, his eyes wide in shock, mouth opened in a silent scream. Scanning the area, he spotted Naruto standing behind the motionless ninja and his glove-covered hand …. jutting out of said Jonin's chest! He killed him!?

"… will be easy!"

Carelessly pulling his blood covered hand from the dead man's torso and dropping his corpse to the ground in a meaty thud, Naruto sped forward and swept a surprised Hayate off his feet, speeding off into the distance without even looking back.

Realizing the Genin's intention, Baki got over his shock off seeing a mere Genin take out a full seasoned Jonin and moved to give pursuit. However, before he could chase after the boy, his battle hardened senses picked up the approaching chakra signatures of several ANBU.

His hands clenched in anger, drawing blood, his teeth grinded against one another. This was bad! Worse even! Should the two report what they witnessed here to the Hokage, then their invasion will be for naught! Granted there won't be an invasion if the Hokage decided to order his Force to eliminate them!

The whole success of the invasion depended on the element of surprise! They had not delusional thoughts of being strong enough to take the Leaf Village on with their weak force, but they were confident that they could deliver a decisive blow during the confusion!

Cursing the cloaked Genin and vowing to get his head in a platter, the Sand Jonin took the dead Sound ninja's body and sped off into his temporary apartment. It would surely raise suspicion and security if the ANBU were to find a dead Sound Jonin in the middle of the street.

Finding the copious amount of blood on the street would do the same but at least they could chalk it up to an internal quarrel between ninja or even some reckless training method.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Author's Note** : I want to express my apologies for giving the readers false update alarm. I only meant to delete the (AN) I had left before my departure, I never realized that the system would inform my readers of an update. Some of the readers understood for which I was thankful while some outright expressed their anger.

So I understand your anger and apologize for the inconvenience but kindly at least try to assess the situation before you leave angry comments asking for the update's whereabouts. I learned my lesson and will remember to warn you guys before I do something of the same nature.

Another thing, I know this chapter is short (almost 8k words) as compared to my other chapters but I wanted to give you guys and gals something to read after all this time. I hope it was enjoyable and worth your precious time.

Kindly review and let me know what you think. If you don't have an account, leave a guest review. **My Moon Emperor fans made me the happiest man alive by giving me a breathtakingly sizeable amount of reviews for a single chapter (145 reviews!) only after I encouraged them that a guest review was also acceptable!** So don't be shy and review even if you don't have an account!

 **Here is short list of my stories along with their short descriptions.**

 **Story No 1:**

 **Name** : Wandering Soul:

 **Type** : Naruto X Bleach.

 **Pairing** : Naruto, Tsunade and Rangiku

 **Type of main character** : A slightly perverted, OP, cheerful, friendly Naruto who loves to troll his opponents, call people rude nicknames and drink sake.

Story No 2,

 **Name** : Dark Avenger

 **Type** : Naruto X Avengers Assemble

 **Pairing** : Black Widow

 **Type of main character:** The same as Wandering Soul.

 **Story No 3,**

 **Name** : Moon Emperor

 **Type** : Naruto X Young Justice with elements from Justice League, Marvel, Teen Titans and related movies

 **Pairing** : Older Zatanna

 **Type of main of character** : Ruler of Realities, insanely powerful Emperor, polite, friendly, always calm and smiling harmlessly.

Note: The above story is unlike anything you have ever seen or read, trust me on that! The idea haven't been done before and the direction of the story have never been taken before! Give it a try and I can guarantee that you will love it!

 **Story No 4,**

 **Name** : A Fascinating Reality

 **Type** : Naruto X Dragon Ball Super, sequel to Moon Emperor

 **Pairing** : Vados

 **Type of main character** : The same as Moon Emperor.


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